


Star Wars: The Tale of Tatooine

by amb1273



Category: Star Wars
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 12:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 73,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22496350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amb1273/pseuds/amb1273
Summary: This is a story of the planet Tatooine.  This planet was once a lush planet with oceans, abundant animal life, and abundant plant life.  Later this planet became a hot and dry, desert planet, where a young moisture farmer, named Luke Skywalker, was to embark upon a hero's journey.





	Star Wars: The Tale of Tatooine

**AUTHOR'S NOTE AND DISCLAIMER**

Hi. When I was three years old, my parents took me to see the original _Star Wars_ (now _Star Wars: A New Hope_ ) in 1977. Admittedly at that age, some flashy lights and some sound outbursts frightened me in the movie theater. However, I walked out of the theater, already loving the film and the story. (Yes, I really do remember this to this day, and I am not making anything up). It was not long till I started collecting and playing with the original _Star Wars_ action figures, toys, and playsets, and considering George Lucas a respectable genius. Needless to say, I looked very much forward to _Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back_ and then seeing Darth Vader’s face for the first time in _Star Wars: Return of the Jedi_. I also remained a devoted _Star Wars_ fan up to the middle-1980s, when the original hype started to wane; but then, by the late-1980s, _Star Wars_ seemed to have faded away to distant memories for me and seemingly for everybody else, like how many other science fictional stories pass (as it was with _E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial_ which had immense popularity upon its release in 1982 and for some time afterwards before it then quickly faded away). However rather surprisingly, at the start of the 1990s, _Star Wars_ seemed to be making a comeback. In the early-1990s, I saw new video games, new stories in novelizations (then known as the Expanded Universe), and the first reference materials for _Star Wars_ (at least the first reference materials that I myself had seen). This rekindled my passion for _Star Wars_ , and thus, this science fiction saga made its way back to me. It sure made its way back to a lot of people because since the middle-1990s, there were new _Star Wars_ action figures, toys, and playsets that proved to be popular to collect and to play with again for a new generation; and of course, by the end of the 1990s, there was the start of the new prequel trilogy that added to the original trilogy. Also, I loved reading the new reference materials and Expanded Universe novels because there was so much more to learn about _Star Wars_ as well as there being much more to enjoy about _Star Wars_. Furthermore, my favorite _Star Wars_ video game in the late-1990s was _Dark Forces_. When Disney purchased Lucasfilm and most of the rights to _Star Wars_ in 2012, there is no doubt that _Star Wars_ has still been alive and kicking and has fully become multi-generational. Right now at the time of me writing this to you, I am now in my middle age; and if there was something I always wanted to do with _Star Wars_ , it was to write a _Star Wars_ fanfiction. From childhood to the present-day, I was always fascinated with the planet Tatooine because for such an apparently desolate planet in the galactic peripheral area, many events happened on this planet that would later affect the entire galaxy. So, I wanted to write a historical timeline of Tatooine, since there was overall only little written about it (at least to what I could find). Thus, I wrote something, and here it is for anyone and everyone to read. In a nutshell, this is the story of the planet Tatooine in the _Star Wars_ Universe with its many events within the planet's existence up to the events of _Star Wars: A New Hope_. There is a lot of reading material that I myself used to concoct this _Star Wars_ fanfiction. To help me write this fanfiction, I needed a lot of sources of reference, of course. So, needless to say, I borrowed references from the _Star Wars_ films. Also, I borrowed references from many _Star Wars_ reference materials, starting from the early-1990s to the present-day. Furthermore, I borrowed references from many _Star Wars_ novelizations (some are novelizations of the films themselves and others are from what was once called the Expanded Universe to what is now called Legends). Even though, a fair amount of the timeline will have very recognizable events that occurred on Tatooine (particularly with actual plots of the movies in this written work), please know that I was in no way trying to plagiarize anything as I wrote this fanfiction. If anything, I always looked at myself paying homage to George Lucas and to all the authors of the _Star Wars_ reading materials, who wrote long before me and this written work that I started writing. I do not own _Star Wars_ nor do I own any of the characters that George Lucas or Lucasfilm created and that Disney now owns. I do not own any _Star Wars_ -related reference materials, and I do not own any _Star Wars_ -related games. I recognize that Disney owns the intellectual property of _Star Wars_ as well; and I also look at myself paying homage to Disney, which is another company of which I have also been a lifelong fan, particularly of its wonderful animation that has spanned many decades. Also, I went to lengths to explain much of how Tatooine became the desert planet (with which we are all so familiar) with as much plausible scientific reasoning as possible (like how Michael Crichton did with his scientifically based fictional novels—and I have been a longtime fan of his works as well). There was a _Star Wars_ -related comic book that came about earlier, which explained how Tatooine became a desert planet; but I wanted to derive my own story for how Tatooine became a desert planet here in this fanfiction. Also in regards to what I mentioned earlier, towards the end of this story, you will find the actual story of Luke Skywalker on Tatooine as a moisture farmer, in which the plot in my fanfiction is the exact same as how it always was in _A New Hope_. I really need to mention this ahead of time, needless to say. Once again, please know that this is absolutely not meant to be any kind of plagiarism, and I do not own the character of Luke Skywalker and his story in _Star Wars_. The only reason why I included Luke Skywalker’s story from _A New Hope_ is that I was hoping that I could make you the reader feel that what I wrote from my own concoction can also be a part of the _Star Wars_ story, even if only informally so, along with the already-established _Star Wars_ -related plots that can be found in my fanfiction. Thus, I look at it as myself merely paraphrasing what happened in _A New Hope_ , and not copying with dishonest nor wrongful intentions. I really hope you understand my intentions here, because I mean to convey no harm in anyway here. The same is to be said for plots, involving _The Phantom Menace_ , _Attack of the Clones_ and _Revenge of the Sith_ in my fanfiction. Any quotations from the _Star Wars_ films and/or scripts that I put in this fanfiction also are for fair use and for reference only with no dishonest attempts at plagiarism too. Furthermore, for characters in _Star Wars_ that I do not own but are present in this fanfiction, I have also given some of them last names/surnames or first names/forenames (i.e. for some Humans of _Star Wars_ ), either which do not exist in canon or which I have not found in canon with no dishonest intentions as well. So to sum it up, if you see anything directly borrowed from copyrighted material in my fanfiction, my intentions were for fair use only, with no personal gain intended, whether monetary or otherwise. Also, if you the reader see anything that I have paraphrased from the films or the corresponding reference materials in this fanfiction that turned out to be not in line with the films or the reference materials, I sincerely apologize for the error(s). It was not intended to be so, and I will be more than happy to correct it/them. There is one more thing that I need to mention. I stopped my fanfiction timeline of Tatooine at the time of _A New Hope_. Of course, there are later films that involved Tatooine (starting with _Return of the Jedi_ for instance), but I felt that stopping at the time of _A New Hope_ was enough. Okay, so now I believe I mentioned everything that I wanted to say, so without further ado, this is my fanfiction: _Star Wars: The Tale of Tatooine_.

* * *

**INTRODUCTION TO TATOOINE'S BIOSPHERE AND 100,000BBY**

A long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away…there was this galaxy that was a stellar-rich spiral galaxy and it was known as the Domelake Galaxy as the galaxy’s two oldest civilizations of sentient beings—the Humans and the Duros—from two separate inner-galactic habitable planets (known as the Core Worlds) both initially viewed their skies as a gargantuan-sized dome, with the central bulge of the galaxy appearing as a lake in the sky with the spiral arms appearing as a river that peacefully and continuously flowed in and out of this lake in this dome up above them. One hundred thousand years before a majorly historic battle was to take place elsewhere in the Domelake Galaxy, in which would be known as the Battle of Yavin around a gas giant, appropriately named Yavin, there was another planet—a terrestrial one—called Tatooine. Tatooine was 10,465km in diameter, and it was in the Outer Rim of the galaxy, which would become a well-known galactic region, but was also one of the outermost areas of the galaxy. The other outermost region was the Wild Region, which was the emptier region of the outermost areas that was overall poorly known and poorly inhabited. The Core Worlds were in the stellar-rich and well-habited Inner Rim of the galaxy; and there was also the modestly habited Middle Rim of the galaxy between the inner and outer areas of the galaxy. 

Tatooine in the Outer Rim of the Domelake Galaxy also orbited a binary star system, known as the Tatoo System, which was about 43,000 light years away from the supermassive black hole, which was the galactic core. The two binary suns were named Tatoo I and Tatoo II, which both were G-type main sequence stars, producing yellow light. Tatoo I was also slightly larger and slightly more massive than Tatoo II. The planet Tatooine also had three moons, named Ghomrassen, Guermessa and Chenini. Tatooine was the only terrestrial planet in its system and the nearest planet to the two suns. There were two other planets—both gas giants, named Ohann with three moons and Adriana with four moons and also some rings of ice. Though there were many known gas giants that orbited binary stars, Tatooine was the only known habitable, terrestrial planet within a binary star system in the galaxy. Tatooine was also closest to the habitable planets of Piroket and Ryloth (homeworld of the Twi’leks) of their own respective systems of the same name. Tatooine was well within the habitable zone of the Tatoo System, and the planet was covered with saltwater oceans, freshwater lakes, forests, grasslands, freshwater rivers, and freshwater springs, along with a few canyons, caves and rock formations. The plains made up the lowlands and were grasslands and low-lying forests. The plateaus made up the highlands and were all high-lying forests. Scenes on both the plains and plateaus on sunny days were inviting with blue and green all over. The canyons, caves and rock formations, that were wide in area, but clustered together on one zone on Tatooine’s surface, were either sandstone or limestone with rivers flowing through them. These rocky zone of Tatooine would rather surprisingly be one day known as the Jundland Wastes. There was also a very unusual and awestriking natural arch that was 100m tall and that formed at the top of a wall in one of the sandstone-based canyons of the Jundland Wastes. Weathering carved out this natural arch over millions of years. Thousands upon thousands of years later, this naturally eroded arch would be given a name—the Stone Needle. 

Tatooine’s abundant flora included ferns and angiosperms that filled almost all of the planet’s land areas. Angiosperms, which flowered annually, on Tatooine ranged from grasses to bushes and shrubs to small and tall trees; and many bore edible, nutritious, and often-delicious fruits, nuts and berries. Among these plants was the angiospermic deb-deb trees, which bore very delicious and nutritious fruits, called deb-debs. Also, there were patches of hubba shrubs, which grew hubba gourds, which were not as delicious and nutritious but nutritious enough to be sought by herbivores. Indeed, both the deb-deb and hubba gourd were both edible to Tatooine’s herbivorous life-forms. The denser forested areas grew razor moss (gaining the name much later, and so named not because they were sharp but because they only appeared sharp and pointy but were actually very soft). An abundant flower on Tatooine was the perennial funnel flower, which bloomed bright outer-red and inner-blue pedals. These funnel flowers also grew modest size melons. The hivi-hivi trees were also the tallest trees on Tatooine, being able to reach 75m tall and live for many centuries. The hivi-hivis were abundant in Tatooine’s forests. A shorter, but just as common, tree was the miba-miba, which grew to 30m, but bore these bright red miba-miba fruits, which were also a favorite to Tatooine’s herbivores. Tatooine had many trees that bore berries and nuts, particularly the common vraalaa bush and the lilunu tree respectively. The grass species, the cholp, also frequented Tatooinian grasslands, and could grow up to 0.5m tall. At the North and South Poles of Tatooine, there were the lucit-lucit tress, which were hefty conifers, which could withstand even severe winters that naturally occurred cyclically on Tatooine in its orbit around the twin suns. The abundance of Tatooine’s plant life led to high levels of photosynthesis, which emitted the much needed oxygen and glucose as byproducts, on which Tatooine’s animal life depended for breathing and herbivorous consumption. Mushrooms also grew on Tatooine, preferring to live on the darker forest floors in higher moisture. Indeed, Tatooine’s good atmosphere also mostly comprised of nitrogen and oxygen, and it had an ozone layer that also protected the planet’s ground environment from excessive ultraviolet rays from the two suns. Tatooine had a very thick crust (and a crust noticeably thicker than most terrestrial planets in the galaxy), made of granite; and Tatooine had varying layers of limestone and sandstone, ranging from 10m to 50m above the granite layer. A 0.5m layer of topsoil and ground clay also covered the land. There was more sandstone that was also beneath the 5m-layer of the ocean floor that mainly comprised of loose sand. All the sand of Tatooine was technically small, granite particles, which mostly comprised of silica and also slightly comprised of feldspar and mica (as it is mostly the case for all sand on all terrestrial planets). Below the sandstone and limestone was the very thick 500km layer of granite that mainly made up Tatooine’s thick crust. Tatooine also had a very large iron core and thus had a very good protective magnetosphere as well. This magnetosphere was just what Tatooine needed to support its good atmosphere, its large hydrosphere and its large biosphere, as the magnetosphere protected the planet from the strong solar winds from the two suns as well as from cosmic rays from various points within the Universe itself. Tatooine also had surface sand, but this sand was existent only within the bordering beaches of its great oceans and its large lakes. Also, Tatooine’s surface was about 35% land and 65% water. The largest body of water, the Eastern Sea, covered much of half the planet. There was the Western Sea, which was slightly but noticeably smaller than the Eastern Sea. Then, there was the small Northern Sea, which was once a northern extension of the Western Sea, but time and land erosion split the northern appendage of the Western Sea into its own body of water. The mesa of gargantuan-sized, mushroom-shaped, standalone, sandstone rocks between the Western and Northern Seas comprised evidence that an oceanic connection between the West and the North was once there, and that the ocean eroded more of the submerged bottom parts of the rocks than the above-surface top parts. Hence, there was now a mesa of mushroom-shaped gargantuan rocks, where part of the ocean once flowed. This mesa, which would be later known as the Mushroom Mesa, was also the northernmost part of the Jundland Wastes. A large and wide land area lay between the Eastern and Western Seas and under the Northern Sea; and this was where the plains, plateaus and the Jundland Wastes lay. On the other side of the planet was a rather narrow land area, almost entirely comprising of hills, between the Western and Eastern Seas. Tatooine had also had many large and small independent freshwater lakes, and had many rivers that fed into all of these oceans and lakes. Tatooine had diverse weather patterns too. Days and nights ranged from clear to some clouds to fully overcast to drizzly to stormy. Clear skies were nicely blue on Tatooine. Tatooine also had distinct warm seasons with humidity and cold seasons of snow and ice. Indeed, such richness of a planet certainly brought up a diverse biosphere of various fauna as well as flora that gave Tatooine a lot of life. 

First, there was the insects. There were the sandflies, which were among Tatooine’s most common small-sized insects (about 1cm in body length). They were abundant all over Tatooine except over open ocean and over the polar ice caps when in season, and they were the most common prey animal for predators, including birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and even larger insects. Their bodies absorbed so much visible light that they appeared very dark when one saw them, and it was over sand, where they would be easiest to spot, hence their name. However, birds, which could see some ultraviolet light, had no problem spotting them. Sandflies often fed on decaying plant matter and carrion, and laid their eggs there too, in which their maggots also fed on the same decaying matter. Sandflies had short lifespans of about a month as it was with most small-sized insects.

What buzzed about in the forests were the monsterflies. These large insects were about 25cm in body length and 40cm in wingspan, and lived for six months. They were predatory insects, preying on sandflies and other smaller-sized insects only; and they left birds alone, even though many birds were smaller in body size than the monsterflies were. Birds were capable of penetrating the monsterflies’ abdomens with their sharp beaks when occasionally threatened, for instance. Male and female monsterflies had the same body length, though the abdomens of males were slimmer than those of females. Also, males had slightly longer and also slightly narrower wings than those of the females. Males and females had an interesting courting behavior during the breeding seasons, in which the males would clasp the females with their back pincers, and the couple would fly together for a while. Then, the monsterflies would land and then breed in the same clasping stage as their abdomens would curl towards each other for copulation. Since monsterflies were quite large for insects, their flying produced a buzzing sound, which was quite audible to many. Monsterflies, despite their modest size, were also preyed upon as well, as karnops, worrts, and womp rats were fond of them for nourishment. 

The smallest insects were the bandas. An adult banda was only 3mm in body length. Bandas were certainly the most common of the Tatooinian insects, even outnumbering sandflies. They also often nibbled on decaying plant matter and carrion. However, bandas were a favorite prey for small birds and monsterflies. The banda lifespan was about three weeks. 

Another larger-sized but ground-dwelling insect was the kreetle. Kreetles were bulky and about 10cm in length, and they were abundant throughout the forests of Tatooine, whether in trees or on the forest floors. Kreetles almost always fed on rotting vegetation and on groundchigger mites. Karnops, worrts and womp rats hunted them when the opportunity arose, however, they were quite camouflaged. After all, kreetles also had dark-brown exoskeletons and wingcases, and they had large mandibles for consuming rotting vegetation, including wood, as well. Kreetles lived for six months. 

Tatooine also had many other land invertebrates.

There were fast-moving ground-dwelling, eight-legged mites, called rockmites. Their exoskeletons were brownish, and they lived for about two months. Adults were about 3cm long, and they also fed on fallen or rotting vegetation or decaying matter, and were almost as abundant as the sandflies on Tatooine. Rockmites were found in forests, grasslands and beaches as well as around rock formations, where they lived. For relatively small invertebrates, rockmites could run at half a meter per second, which many considered as quite fast for their sizes. They were not too fast for a watching worrt, though. 

There were also the groundchiggers, which were 0.5mm-long mites that preferred to feed off of fallen and rotting tree bark. Very small, they often avoided predation, though kreetles, birds, and small forest lizards hunted them at every opportunity. 

There were scorpions, which were abundant on the beaches of Tatooine, and in the forest areas that were near the lakes and the oceans. Scorpions had tails that injected poison into their victims, which were almost always their smaller-sized prey such as kreetles. A scorpion was not that small—about half a meter in length (including the poisonous tail). At times, scorpions stung when threatened by larger animals. However, scorpion poison was meant to subdue smaller prey; and larger animals, such as banthas, were immune or resistant to them, even if stung. Karnops regularly hunted scorpions, using their powerful bills to whack and subdue them before consumption. Another predator, fully immune to scorpion poison, were womp rats, which preyed on scorpions almost regularly. Not fond of sunlight, scorpions also preferred to be active at night. Tatooine’s scorpions’ exoskeletons had an orange hue to them; and the scorpions themselves lived for up to ten years. 

Tatooine had a woodlouse species as well, and these land crustaceans were also quite large for invertebrates—about a quarter-meter in length. Woodlice also were abundant in the forests, often roaming forest floors. Woodlice also only fed on fallen or rotting vegetation (whether wood, leaves, nuts, or fruits) and never ate live vegetation. Male and female woodlice were the same length, but the males were slimmer than the females. Adults were grayish in color as well. Woodlice often lived up to five years. 

There was a large worm that lived on Tatooine as well. It was called the sandworm because this species almost always lived in burrows on the beaches, even though some had burrowed in the canyon walls of the Jundland Wastes as well. These sandworms had adult body lengths of 20m, and had very thick, pinkish bodies—about 1m thick. Female sandworms were twice as large as the males. Sandworms also had a large mouth with two green eyes. These invertebrates also ambushed their prey by springing at them from their burrows, which was almost any animal that the sandworm could grasp. However, the apex predator, the krayt dragon, also hunted sandworms at every opportunity, but sandworms often were able to successfully hide from the dragons. 

Finally, there was the giant, permanently sedentary arthropod, called the sarlacc. Not only were sarlaccs large, they were also exceptionally long-lived as some females had lived up to fifty thousand years, though twenty thousand years was the common lifespan. The larvae, however, were very small and mobile, and often keep themselves hidden in the beach sands and the forest floors as they feed on decaying matter. Yet, the sarlaccs were still most vulnerable as predators, such as karnops and womp rats, often found them in their larval stage to easily hunt. About 97% of sarlaccs did not live past their larval stage. However, at a hundred years, they were two meters long and could lash out their eight mouth tentacles for defense, though they would then become poorly mobile to the point of becoming sedentary, particularly with the females. Also at this age, sarlaccs moved from being herbivorous to omnivorous and they started consuming meat and insects as well. Sarlaccs would then start to bury themselves, which was almost always in the sandy beaches and in the forest floors, or sometimes in the grasslands. The males did not grow any larger than 2m long and remained poorly mobile but mobile nonetheless, and while underground, they started burrowing in their searches for females. The females continued to grow much larger than the males, and would do so until reaching eight hundred years of age, but females would become fully sedentary with absolutely no body motion, save for their mouth-related body parts. Once a small male found a female, the male traveled downward and then became parasitic to his enormous mate at her lower part of her body, near the ovipositor. Then, the male became sedentary, just like his enormous mate. An adult female sarlacc in the ground had a permanently open mouth at the ground surface, which was the only visible major external organ to an onlooker of the sarlacc. The mouth had descending rings of long, sharp, conical teeth, and the mouth kept itself permanently mucous-coated in order to prevent dehydration. At the center of the mouth was a large, beak-like, movable tongue that could produce vocal screeches, and the tongue gave the sarlacc a secondary mouth as it had a mouth of its own. At the round outer lip of the sarlacc were the eight tentacles that were very mobile and sensitive. The tentacles reached and wrapped themselves around nearby potential prey, which then pulled the prey to the sarlacc’s maw. The unseen entire body of the sarlacc was about 30m long from the mouth to the bottom appendages. A neck-like trunk followed the mouth downward, which connected to a very large and bulky central hardshell-armored torso at the very center of the sarlacc, and all the appendages connected to the central torso as well. In the torso, was the sarlacc’s digestive system. A sarlacc’s digestion was very, very slow with the tract being about from five hundred to a little more than a thousand years. A sarlacc’s prey upon capture and swallow would slowly be broken down by the digestive juices, while the prey was still alive. A sarlacc’s prey could remain alive in the throat for more than a week before finally dying. Avoiding an adult female sarlacc was always necessary, needless to say. Sarlaccs could go without food for months, but they never passed up a feeding frenzy when the opportunity arose. There were also four upper, strong and thick appendages that pointed upward in a diagonal; and there were four lower, strong and thick appendages that pointed downward in a diagonal. These appendages were for giving the growing sarlacc balance in the ground and for keeping the mouth vertically upward. There were four more smaller appendages at the very bottom, and the male would attach himself there. These appendages acted like plant roots for the sarlacc to obtain moisture from the ground. Also at the very bottom was the female’s ovipositor, which deposited thousands of eggs per breeding season. The parasitic males deposited sperm that traveled downward the female’s lower appendages and then further downward until they met the eggs for fertilization. Then after hatching, sarlacc larva traveled up the female’s body and past the mouth and then reached the surface, where they began their mobile lives. 

The bulbous worrts were amphibian and had camouflage, enabling them to appear as rocks, while remaining absolutely still, while awaiting a potential prey animal to be within striking range—striking with their long, strong, and fast tongues. Worrts ate anything that their tongues could grab, and they had slow metabolisms, so they did not move when they did not need to do so. Every time they swallowed food, they did it very quickly and which also took in a lot of air in their gulps, which then almost always led the worrts to produce a single belch afterwards. Males worrts were fiercely territorial and croaked loudly during mating seasons, and their breeding time was only once per year. These amphibians needed water, but could live far from water for a long time if needed. When needing water, the worrts simply moved to the nearest pond, river, or lake. Worrts also moved by making short leaps though they could walk as well. Worrts often hunted sandflies, monsterflies and rockmites, though their range of food could be quite wide to include juvenile vertebrates, so long as their tongues could easily overpower their prey. Overall, for amphibians, worrts were modest-sized, averaging about 0.5m long.

Tatooine had snakes, particularly the lowland snake (1.5m-long), which hunted small insects and mites and occasionally small mammals in the low-lying plains of grasslands and the beaches. They were yellow-scaled with brown stripes. Lowland snakes often covered a lot of ground during the day, searching for food and places to rest, which they often did. Being modest-sized but not very large, these reptiles were rather abundant, however, there were big reptiles on Tatooine as well. 

Dewbacks were large, bulky, 4m-long (including the tail) reptiles that were omnivorous, though plants made up their main diet, particularly grasses and low-shrubbery. Though they ate meat as well, they almost never hunted and preferred to feed on carrion; and when they did hunt, the prey was always small-sized. These large reptiles also often formed packs with only few living in solitude. Dewbacks were often slow-moving (sometimes to the point of lumbering), but they could run up to 50km/hr on their relatively sleek feet and ankles when needing to flee or to cover more ground in a short time. Dewbacks also had a lot of endurance on warm days, and could move for long distances without needing to rest for a long while. In the forests, dewbacks were often hard to spot due to their rather deep-green, scaly skins. Dewbacks also emitted low, bellowing calls. Being cold-blooded reptiles, dewbacks as social animals clustered together to save energy when it was time to sleep at night. Lone dewbacks often slept in the dense brush. During the breeding season, the slightly larger male dewbacks reared up and wrestled with their rivals until one submitted. Large male dewbacks were often able to win a harem of females, and females laid their many eggs in dense fallen vegetation for better incubation. Dewbacks, in addition to their large size when adults, had sharp talons; and they used them while rearing up for the rare occasions of defense, particularly against Tatooine’s apex predator.

Tatooine had a small lizard species as well. It was called a forest lizard. Forest lizards were overall green but their scaly skin also emitted a blueish tint in certain angles of light. They lived and hunted small insects on the surface, and were capable of quick bursts of speed—good for catching rockmites. They had retractable tongues too, which enabled them to catch other insects in the air. Male forest lizards were about 20cm long, and females were about 17cm long. At night, forest lizards burrowed in the ground to sleep until the next morning. Forest lizards were also occasionally preyed upon by womp rats and karnops, while worrts occasionally took juveniles. 

The apex predators were the krayt dragons. These reptilian beasts were quite colossal with long, powerful necks and could hunt any prey they desired. An adult krayt dragon could reach 30m from nose to tail-tip. Good-sized bantha herds could often put up an effective defense against them and dewbacks could sometimes fend them off, but these were the only kinds of probable defenses against these dragons. Often, potential prey had to flee in the hopes that the pursuing krayt dragons would not catch them. At the very least, krayt dragons only needed one modest-sized meal within a span of two days. Krayt dragons either pursued their prey or lay in wait for them. Krayt dragons bellowed, roared and even trumpeted. Male krayt dragons were very territorial, and often roared to intimidate rival males and bellowed to attract females during mating season. Like with the mammalian rontos, male krayt dragons wrestled rival males with their long, powerful necks during the breeding season. Krayt dragons trumpeted to call one another, and female krayt dragons particularly trumpeted to call their young, and young krayt dragons did the same when occasionally separated from their mothers. Krayt dragons could also effortlessly escape from sarlaccs. When not feeding, krayt dragons often rested in the dense forests, basked in the suns in the open grasslands or on beaches, patrolled their territories, or sometimes even satisfied their curiosities for they were quite intelligent. Krayt dragons also could swim, and although they spent most of their time on land, finding a krayt dragon in any of the seas was not an uncommon sight. After all, krayt dragons also had four tail fins, which helped them propel themselves through water. A krayt dragon also had five cartilaginous brow horns on top of its head, which pointed backwards. In addition to cartilage, these brow horns had many nerve endings; and thus the brow horns helped the krayt dragons sense approaching prey. Krayt dragons were also known to swallow small stones to help their stomachs grind food. Over time, these stones became condensed and very smooth, and remained in the dragons’ stomachs for life. These stones would much later be known as dragon pearls. Krayt dragons also had long life spans with some living up to two hundred years. 

There was a bird species, called the corleture, which had sharp, curved beaks, and were only about 25cm long, including the tail feathers. Corletures were parrot-like and they lived in large flocks in Tatooine’s many forests, and were quite intelligent. They had dexterous, prehensile feet for climbing and holding objects to consume as food, such as fruits, berries and insects. They had a mostly green plumage, and the males and females looked almost exactly alike, except that the males had slightly larger and more robust heads and beaks. Corletures cheeped loudly when calling their own in the forests but also often simply chirped to communicate with others of their species in close range. Corletures either hunted insects (often while in flight) or peacefully perched themselves on trees with fruits and vraalaa berries to eat. 

There was the modest-sized ground-dwelling bird that was incapable of flying. These were called karnops, and though these 1m-tall birds could not fly, they were very fast runners, enabling to run bipedally up to 40km/hr; and they were able to maneuver quickly when running. Being so evasive, karnops were almost impossible for predators to catch them. They also had large, sharp, yellow-colored beaks, which enabled them to hunt large-sized insects, scorpions, sarlacc larvae, and forest lizards; and to consume fruits with ease. Both males and females had grey plumage, and the males were slightly larger than the females. Karnops squawked to communicate amongst each other. Karnops often lived in the forests, though some occasionally wandered onto the beaches and grasslands. 

There was also another bird—a songbird, called the mwoot. Mwoots were quite adorable to the sentient being as these small-sized birds had colorful blue, green and red feathers for striking plumages, though the plumages of the males were more striking. This was because the males used their striking plumages to display themselves to females during the breeding seasons. Tatooine’s forests were filled with them as well, and they also averaged 25cm in length, including the tail feathers. They often ate small ground-dwelling mites as well as flying insects that they easily could catch in the air; and they also fed on fruits and berries as corletures did. Male mwoots sang very beautiful songs, when attempting to attract mates and establish territories, also during the breeding seasons. Females could sing too, and they did so when they had found their nesting spot in a tree. When not singing, mwoots simply chirped and tweeted for communication, which was also pleasant to the ear of the sentient being. Nesting mwoots involved both the males and females, raising their nestlings till they fledged. 

The small, 30cm-long scurriers (from the nose to the tip of tail) were rodents that were mainly quadrupedal, but could hop bipedally when needing to flee predators. Scurriers had two horns on top of their heads, which served as foliage deflectors when hopping through dense vegetation in the forests. Their tales curled when they hopped. Though both the male and female scurrier had the two horns on top of the head, the male scurriers used the horns for courtship display and to ward off rivals during the mating season. All scurries normally fed on vegetation, whether leaves or grasses in the grasslands and in the forests. Unfortunately, they were a favorite prey animal for larger predatory reptiles and other mammals. The juvenile scurriers also occasionally fell prey to worrts as well. 

The herbivorous, mammalian rontos had very tall statures of 4m with their long necks; and rontos overall had large and strong elephantine bodies. The backs of ronto skulls were tall and pointed, making rontos look even taller and were good for foliage deflection in the forests. For mammals, rontos had only little hair, and had dark-beige skin. The rontos liked to browse on the always-available foliage of Tatooine’s ever-abundant forests, and their snouts had sharp front-beaks, which were well-suited for stripping branches of leaves and their large, cone-pointed molars were perfect for crushing thicker vegetation and fruits for consumption. The rontos had overall poor eyesight, comparing to other Tatooinian megafauna and could sometimes be startled by sudden movements, but their sense of smell and hearing were extremely good. Krayt dragons sometimes hunted rontos, but many could flee before the dragon would come too close. Rontos also had forward nostrils and large, floppy ears. Rontos also often lived in herds. Male rontos, fighting for mating rights with females, often swung their strong and bulky necks against their rivals, which did the same back to them until one emerged victorious. However, large male rontos with large necks only needed to be present in the scene for slightly smaller rival males to back down immediately. Rontos also gave low trumpeting calls as well as short grunts. 

The eopies were also herbivorous and were devout grazers of Tatooine’s grasslands; and they also fed on tubers. Eopies were mammalian, and yet like rontos, they only were lightly haired. They were only modest-sized (about 2m in height), but they were quite populous on Tatooine. Their flexible snouts (which were short trunks) gave them a lot of feeding dexterity; and their rather long necks only further enabled their grazing perfection. They could eat a lot of grass in a short time, allowing them to remain well fed for many hours during the day. Their sharp incisors enabled them to obtain food fast; and their flat molars, for crushing grass, were perfect for their grazing habit. Eopies also had long and nimble legs, enabling fast speeds of up to 60km/hr. In fact, eopies were master sprinters and master endurance runners—perfect for evading predators or other dangers and for quickly heading to new grounds to feed. Eopies also often roamed or ran in herds, and newborn eopies could walk and even run in minutes. Eopies also had vestigial tails, and they dropped to their elbows and knees before fully settling down to rest. Eopies had small ears, and could not hear as well as other animals, but their senses of smell and taste were great. Their sense of sight was modest too. One distinguishing feature of eopies was their ability to spit out stomach acid at other animals or people when the eopies felt annoyed by their presence. 

Womp rats were very common predators on Tatooine. These carnivorous rodents had long snouts with sharp teeth with two long upper canine tusks. They were slightly over 2m in length (excluding the tail, which made them 3m in length), and can hunt anything smaller than them. Womp rats either lived alone or in packs; and in packs, they would often hunt larger prey up to juvenile rontos and banthas. They also possessed slightly long ears that naturally pointed back and were not floppy, which give them a very keen sense of hearing. They often were ambush predators for they had great jumping abilities, and they could also run fast and pursue prey. They were quite hairy, except for their long hairless tails; and they had sharp claws, which assisted in subduing prey. Womp rats were also fully immune to scorpion poison, and they regularly hunted scorpions as well. Even though womp rats hunted well, they were very opportunistic for they scavenged too, never passing up on carrion. Womp rats often barked, growled or snarled. 

Banthas were the largest herbivores on Tatooine, and were also bovine in body-shape. They were massive (about 3.5m-tall to the shoulder and 4m long, minus the tail), very hairy and shaggy with light-beige fur, and actually quite intelligent as well. Banthas also had 3m-long, bulky tails. They also had good eyesight and hearing, and they had very strong incisors and molars. Banthas were primarily grazers but also fed on fruit and sometimes browsed; and their nostrils were not immediately visible, being on the sides of their skulls, rather than to the front. Their mouths and lips were also quite large and wide. Bull banthas were about ¼ larger than the cow banthas. They were also capable of running up to 45km/hr as their feet were hoofed at the front, and even though their feet were also large, fleshy, and flat-bottomed. Banthas were also very social and preferred to live in modest-sized herds, though one would occasionally stumble upon a lone bantha from time to time. Banthas sported two large, tough, segmented, cream-colored, spiral-curved horns. Both bulls and cows had horns though the horns were larger and more pronounced on the bulls. Bulls often charged, butted, and/or wrestled with rival bulls for dominance and for mating rights with their horns, though bulls with very large horns often only needed to tip their horns at their rivals to establish their higher status. However, both bulls and cows gored or charged with their horns when provoked. Adult banthas were often large enough to deter small carnivores, and a good-sized herd could even fend off a krayt dragon. In herds, bantha young remained in the center, while the protective adults formed the perimeter. Banthas also had long, strong and dexterous tongues that enabled them to browse, graze and drink very easily; and bantha tongues were also very sensitive, giving banthas the ability to pick up small objects when needed. Bantha cows nursed their calves, which suckled; and the milk from nursing banthas (which was sky-blue in color) was very nutritious and delicious. In fact, bantha milk would much be later be known as the famed “blue milk” of Tatooine. Banthas were also long-lived animals, with some being able to live up to a hundred years. Close to the end of their lives, banthas often lingered near small lakes and springs before succumbing to natural causes. 

Within Tatooine’s oceans were an abundance of oceanic life from fishes to crustaceans to cephalopods to corals. The largest predatory fish was the gorbiti, which was 8m in length that preferred the shallower waters. The largest cephalopod was the hertom, which was 10m in length (including the tentacles) that preferred the deeper waters. The largest crustacean that lived on the ocean floors of all three seas was the yoon that was three meters with outstretched legs. Another notable oceanic fish included the folmin, which was bulky and yet fast-swimming. A notable colorfully striking fish that lived among the corals was the varplen. In Tatooine’s freshwater lakes and rivers, there were also many aquatic animals. Two common freshwater fish was the half-meter-long boolk and the 15cm-long jarium.

Indeed, flora and fauna were undoubtedly abundant on Tatooine, but there were intelligent, self-aware, sentient, humanoid beings too. There were the Gaderiffiis, who were native, sentient, mammalian humanoid beings on Tatooine that lived in the forests and the grasslands of Tatooine. Gaderiffii meant “person” in their own language of the same name. The Gaderiffiis named Tatooine after their words _tata_ _ouine_ , meaning “land of water springs”, as they preferred to live near actual water springs at the beginning of their existence. All Gaderiffiis lived in the large and wide land area between the Eastern, Western and Northern Seas. The Gaderiffiis were very religious and named the outer planets after their god Ohann of light and their goddess Adriana of life. The Gaderiffii faces had features of both rodents and felines. For instance, they had two prominent, rodentian, upper-jaw incisors, but they also had short, feline faces as well, and they possessed sharp, feline canines. Gaderiffiis also had a row of feline, lower incisors as well as feline premolars; yet they also had rodentian molars in the backs of their mouths. With such a variety of different teeth, Gaderiffiis thus were full, natural omnivores, naturally choosing plants and meat as their main food sources almost equally every time. Their noses were also short, which was typical of rodents and felines as well. When their mouths were closed, Gaderiffiis did not show their teeth as well. Gaderiffiis also possessed two prominent eyes, which were large (though not disproportionately large), comparing to the face. Their eyes had yellow scleras, brown irises and black pupils. Gaderiffii skin was beige in color. The Gaderiffiis also had hair, but hair was only present on the tops of their heads, on the napes of their necks, along their backs, and on the arms and the feet. Bare skin was the rest, and the hair was dark brown. The Gaderiffiis also had relatively small ears, though they could hear well enough; and they (like most humanoids) did not rely on their senses of smell and hearing as much as their sense of sight. Also, like all humanoids, Gaderiffiis had dexterous hands with opposable thumbs for crafting, and had well-proportioned, mainly flat feet, enabling great bipedal walking and running. Male Gaderiffiis were about 1.8-2m tall, while females often reached 1.6-1.8m tall. Gaderiffiis started as a dense-forest-dwelling species on Tatooine, always dwelling near water springs. However, as they learned to develop tools and work with fire, they started moving to the lesser-dense forests and the grasslands, though still always keeping near water springs. More out in the open, the Gaderiffiis started adopting clothes for warmth, for protection, and for style. These clothes were made from thin-leathered bantha hide. Ornamentation became more and more common among the Gaderiffiis’ attire as well. When obtaining food, the females gathered certain leaves, fruits, nuts, and berries, while the males hunted small and large prey with their earliest form of preferred weapon—the four-tipped-cross spear. The four-tipped spear was a long spear that had four, knapped, separate spearpoints that the Gaderiffiis hafted at the sides of the spear, in the form of a cross. The four knapped spearpoints of the four-tipped-cross configuration all faced forward and beyond the shaft of the spear. The four spearpoints in a cross symbolized their belief in their gods Ohann and Adriana as well as their quests for continued fortune and knowledge. The Gaderiffii males hunted small game and big game, often in hunting parties, being able to hunt prey as large as adult banthas with their four-tipped-cross spears. The society of the Gaderiffiis was tribal, and each tribe lived in a cluster of huts, surrounding a central space, made for campfires, religious rituals, storytelling sessions, and large-scale roasting of their meat after a really good hunt. The men and women of tribes also worked together to weave nets and use them for fishing boolks and jaria in the shallow rivers. The Gaderiffii tribes sometimes traded with other tribes, but in other times, the tribes fought wars among each other for resources or to settle heavy disputes. The aforementioned animals were the only animals that the Gaderiffiis knew about. 

There was one more animal, however. At the hilly area on the far side of Tatooine (where no Gaderiffii even knew about, let alone visited), there were the hoofed mammals that had thick dome-topped skulls that grazed on the hill vegetation. These mammals were called lumnols, which were related to banthas; but the much smaller lumnols were only 1m tall to the back. Male lumnols, which were slightly larger than the females, used their thick dome-topped skulls to compete for mating rights. All lumnols used their thick dome-topped skulls to ward off intruders to their territories. The hoofed feet of lumnols were also quite large, which enabled the grazers to easily keep balance on the slanted hills. Occupying the far side of Tatooine, lumnols were quite abundant in number. Lumnols also grazed on the planet-ubiquitous cholp grasses, which also grew on the lower parts of the hill slopes. 

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**75000BBY**

Two Core World species of the Domelake Galaxy started to advance in their societies, and their big jump came from abandoning spears and adopting new weaponry. Humans became fully dominant on the Core World of Coruscant. Coruscant was also the planet of origin for the galaxy’s Humans, whom later became a very ambitious and intelligent sentient species, wishing to gain knowledge through exploration of their own planet. The Humans defeated a major rival humanoid species to gain dominance on Coruscant. The Duros of their planet Duro also became dominant as they too defeated a major rival humanoid species as well, and the Duros were repto-mammalian humanoids with blueish-green skin, rather large brains, flat noses, green blood, and two glowing red eyes on each. Both Humans and Duros used melee weapons, made of metal, and also used bows with arrows and slings. It was these kinds of weapons that allowed Humans and Duros to become dominant on Coruscant and Duro respectively as their rival humanoid species still only had spears. Back on Tatooine, the world population of Gaderiffiis were about 50,000 and rising quickly. One high-ranking Gaderiffii tribal chief and his wife, named B'Gulviw and Z'Huuqa, established some very rich farming grounds on the plains to the east of the Western Sea as their tribe was the first to start practicing agriculture. However, their farming abilities were limited, and thus they still needed to resort to hunting and gathering as well. Corletures and mwoots continued to nest and raise their nestlings, every year. Karnops continued to hunt scorpions. Monsterflies continued to hunt bandas and sandflies. Rontos browsed in the forests and banthas grazed in the grasslands. The waves of the Eastern, Western and Northern Dune Seas rhythmically broke on the beaches. All of this happened on the lush blue-green planet of Tatooine. 

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**50000BBY**

At this time on Tatooine, a major shift was about to occur. Five closely related tribes of Gaderiffiis that lived near each other on the west coast of the Eastern Sea found themselves outcompeted by more inland tribes to the point that during one wintertime, they were running out of food. So, with one chief named Hejibil acting as the accepted leader of the journey, they decided to use watercraft to travel alongside the polar ice of the North Pole to see if there was new land beyond the Eastern Sea to settle. Hejibil's convoy of boats had some difficulties traversing the polar ice caps, but every boar made it. Out of sheer luck, these Gaderiffiis, totaling about one thousand from the five tribes, found one small continent, located at about the center of the Eastern Sea, in which they came ashore. Hejibil already liked this new land and made the announcement that everyone should consider this land as their new home. This continent was inhabited by many animal life-forms and mostly had very dense vegetation with little grasslands, but no sentient beings inhabited it. In fact, no sentient being knew of this continent's existence on the Eastern Sea before. This small continent appeared like a new paradise to these newcomer Gaderiffiis. So, these Gaderiffiis fully decided to stay on this continent, and Hejibil adopted a new name for his group of Gaderiffiis—Jawas, with _jawa_ , meaning “newcomer” in Gaderiffii. The new Jawas were happy to find the similar leaves, fruits and berries to gather for food. As for hunting, these Gaderiffiis-turned-Jawas continued to knap spearpoints and continue to use the same four-tipped-cross spears for hunting as they took their familiar knapping and the hafting skills with them across the ocean. These new Jawas named their continent, Jawarundiu, meaning “our new land” in Gaderiffii. With Jawarundiu having little grasslands, farming became very limited, though, but the Jawas still practiced it when possible. 

The Jawas also discovered some previously unknown animal species that only inhabited this previously unknown continent of Jawarundiu. 

The jerbas were hairy, modest-sized bovine mammals and could either graze or browse. They had shorter brown fur, sprouted two horns and had hooves, and had dark-brown and very bushy tails and each strand of hair was long and very strong. Jerbas used their very strong tails to swat away sandflies and bandas. Jerbas often lived in large herds, even though there were not many grasslands, comparing to the dense forests. The jerbas were actually closely related to banthas and were only a third of the size of their larger cousins. Jerbas were, however, about three times larger than the lumnols. The males were larger than the females and had more prominent horns, also like with the banthas. However, jerba horns were not large and visually striking like those of the banthas. 

The jakrabs were lagomorphic mammals that feed on leaves and small vegetation. They were very fleet-footed and thus were also master sprinters, and could run up to 55km/hr. Jakrabs were also small-sized—only 30cm long; and they intimidated easily for fleeing was their only defense against predation. Their very long ears gave jakrabs a very keen sense of hearing. Jakrabs also had long, slender snouts for drinking quickly before likely needing to run again. Jakrabs also had overall slender bodies as well as they had high metabolisms. They frequented the few grasslands of Jawarundiu and often burrowed for sheltering. The males were marginally larger than the females.

The volmares were songbirds of similar size to the mwoots, except that volmares were blue and yellow in plumage and had slightly bulkier beaks. However, almost every other feature of volmares were identical to mwoots. The males had more striking plumage than the females and sang beautiful songs of their own to establish territories and impress females. Male volmares were also marginally larger than the females. The volmares also fed on insects, fruits and berries. Furthermore, the females also sang when finding nesting spots for themselves. 

There were also the cemaths, which were rodentian mammals. Cemaths were about 25cm long from nose to tail, and they were quite populous. Most of their fur was tan-colored, except for their white-colored belly fur. The males were slightly larger and bulkier than the females. Cemaths frequented the grasslands and the forests of Jawarundiu, feeding off of grasses, fallen leaves, and seeds. Sometimes, cemaths fed on fallen sandflies and bandas as well. When not scurrying in the daytime, cemaths slept in their self-made burrows at night. Cemaths also emitted a vocal eep sound to communicate amongst themselves.

However, what gave Jawas something to be concerned about were the predatory anoobas. The mammalian anooba was 2m in body length and the tail was 2.5m in length alone—helpful to keep the body counterbalanced when running. Anoobas were also very fast-running with their slender bodies, long legs, and their very strong hindarms and thighs. They were able to run up to 55km/hr. They also had long snouts with large lower incisors and upper canines, and their jaws were very strong, which could easily crush bone. Their sense of smell was among the best of all of Tatooine’s fauna. Male anoobas were slightly larger than females, and when living and hunting in packs, each pack had an alpha male and an alpha female. The alpha pair had one litter per year, and all members of the pack fed the young through regurgitation. Sometimes beta pairs had a litter per year too. Anoobas regularly hunted jakrabs, cemaths, and jerba juveniles. For a fair number of times, an anooba pack could hunt a fully grown jerba as well. Anoobas also had long ears with a keen sense of hearing. Anoobas also started to hunt Jawas, and Jawas were not prepared to deal with a new and efficient predator. Lone Jawas, who went out into the forests to gather berries, were often ambushed and killed by an anooba. Jawas adopted a new warning message “ _Utinni_!” which meant “Look out!” when an anooba was drawing near. Jawas also had to learn to construct durable homes out of logs and mud to keep themselves protected and to keep the anoobas outside at night. The Jawas’ four-tipped-cross spears were effective in defending themselves from anoobas, if the Jawas were not taken by complete surprise. Jawas very soon afterwards started to venture out into the woods in groups with at least several with the four-tipped-cross spears. For the next ten thousand years, anoobas and Jawas were locked in a predator-prey relationship. 

Both Humans and Duros experienced population booms due to increased survival rates, and due to their own discovery of agriculture and then (after several thousand years) urbanization on their own worlds. Humans also developed firearms, that comprised of barrel-guns, that fired projectiles very quickly from their guns after activating a spark towards flammable powder that produced a small but effective explosion in their guns to fire the projectiles. It would also take a thousand years for the Jawas’ own language to fully develop—Jawaese—which was similar to Gaderiffii, but it certainly had its own distinction. Furthermore, though the Gaderiffiis continued to live in larger-sized tribes, Jawas started to live in smaller-sized clans as the dense environment of Jawarundiu dissuaded long-distance communication within larger groups. Smaller groups fared better for communicating on Jawarundiu, however. It was also easier for whole clans to gather around for the occasional storytelling. 

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**40000BBY**

These Jawas—the newcomer Gaderiffii to their new continent—slowly evolved to be half their original size, never growing more than a meter tall. The smaller size would be an advantage, since the more finite living space would be more available to them as well as for the animals and plants. A major disadvantage of their smaller size, though, was that they were easier for anoobas to hunt them. As unfortunate as it was, Jawas also evolved to be timider and more ever-cautious as a result of always having to look out for a stalking anooba. Thus, Jawas always traveled in clustered groups with lone Jawa travelers shunned by their clans. The Jawas’ smaller body sizes gave them noticeably higher voices as well. Indeed, Jawas and Gaderiffiis were looking very distinct from each other now as well. Jawas still mostly resorted to living in the dense forests of Jawarundiu, and as a result, they kept more in the shadows, where there was more edible vegetation and where it was a little easier to hide from the predatory anoobas. Very few Jawas ventured into the open grasslands, even in groups. Only the most weapon-adept Jawa clans were brave and able enough to farm on the grasslands. The Jawas already had yellow scleras but now they also started evolving bioluminescent eyes, so that Jawas could spot each other more easily in the dense, shady forests. The yellow scleras of the eyes of Jawas were brightening and the irises and the pupils were still present but were also becoming less visible. Also, a cluster of Jawas with these eyes started looking alarming to stalking anoobas in the dense vegetation. Jawas learned of this advantage quickly, and then Jawas started opening their eyes more while making sudden movements to anoobas, as there was only little natural light through the canopy tops of the forests. As a result, the startled anoobas started fleeing Jawas that had more bioluminescent eyes. Hungrier anoobas, who did not flee Jawas, who attempted to startle them with their eyes, found newer problems in hunting Jawas. Jawas started adopting craftier techniques to defend themselves in the dense vegetation. At the presence of an anooba, members of a Jawa cluster all stared at the anooba, while spreading out. This confused the predator. Then, the spread out Jawas started slowly backing away from the anooba until the Jawas were out of sight. The anooba, not knowing which set of eyes to focus upon and thus not knowing which Jawa to attack, only wound up staying in its tracks and hunting nothing. There was no doubt that the bioluminescent eyes of Jawas became a valuable trait, even though the irises and the pupils were becoming more translucent. The bioluminescent light of the Jawa eyes started looking more and more like they had glowing yellow eyes. Over a thousand years, Jawas with more obvious bioluminescent eyes became more attractive to others, which further encouraged the evolutionary step. Eventually, however, the bioluminescence reached its limit, and all Jawas’ eyes were of the same brightness. The brightness of the Jawa bioluminescent eyes were noticeably bright but definitely not too bright to be uncomfortable to see for the onlooker at the Jawas, and eventually other humanoids would still be able to look Jawas in the bioluminescent eyes with absolutely no problems. Jawas that could live on the few grasslands also evolved the yellow bioluminescent eyes as this genetic trait spread to the whole species on the continent. 

It also turned out that there were also water springs on Jawarundiu to the Jawas' delight. A very pleasant scene to the Jawas was a water spring in the middle of the forest, where sunlight peeked through the canopy, and from which volmares and cemaths were drinking. Such a scene was certainly subliminal to the Jawas. Jawas also often had to wait for their turn to a water spring, when a herd of jerbas was already there. Jawas, of course, had to go on their defensive moves when anoobas were present at a spring. One Jawa named Bohatne became famous among the other Jawas for his ability to lure anoobas away from water springs with his expertise in faking the sounds of injured jerbas. Bohatne in the vegetation, imitated the sound of an injured jerba, immediately caught the ears of anoobas, which started sniffing for the potential prey and leaving the water spring. Bohatne's group used their handmade nets to temporarily trap the anoobas, while the Jawas had a chance to enjoy a good drink of the refreshing spring water. 

As for the Gaderiffiis that still lived on the plains and plateaus, surrounded by the Eastern, Western and Northern Seas, they continued to live in tribes, hunt, gather, farm, and gather around for storytellings in the same ways as they had done so for the several tens of thousands of years. An elderly woman Gaderiffii named G'Keilaab became famous for her amazing stories and she was very talented in acting out her stories as well as telling them. Gaderiffii children and adults from her tribe and even those from other tribes (paying visit) crowded around G'Keilaab when it was time for a story session. 

Humans on Coruscant, whom already started to become overpopulated, started trying to find new livable planets through space. So, Humans developed sleeper ships, which enabled people to travel through space in suspended animation until reaching a new planet, even if centuries after launch. For instance, Humans stumbled upon Alderaan, on which a sentient insectoid species (the Killiks) once lived, but had gone extinct much earlier, leaving only its few surviving structures. Of course, a new colony of sleeper-ship Humans called Alderaan their new home. Also, Humans stumbled upon Corellia, another planet that orbited its star named Corell, in their sleeper ships. Two more traveling sentient species—the Dralls and the Selonians—also stumbled on Corellia in the same fashion. Thus, three sentient species occupied Corellia, and for the most part, there was only little conflict among the three, since Corellia was ripe for the taking with plenty of space for everyone. The Duros with their population explosion also started building orbital cities in space. 

* * *

**30000BBY**

The Rakatans, of a reptilian humanoid species with cone-shaped heads, yellow-green skin, and two sideward eyes each, from the planet Rakata (another Core World), created a vast galactic empire in terms of space expanse, though not that much in terms of planet number. The Rakatan Empire reached the Outer Rim of the Domelake Galaxy, but did not reach Tatooine. However, some Rakatans did venture outward in their ships to Tatooine, visiting the planet to the point of flying only 250m above the surface; and reported the lush, biosphereically rich planet to their leaders. Gaderiffiis and Jawas, who saw these flying things in the day or night sky, could not comprehend what they just saw overhead—low-flying starships in the sky with their bright lights, coming from searchlights, lit windows, and engine exhausts. The Tatooinian birds also cheeped alarming calls when they both saw the lights and heard the engine sounds in the sky. However, subjugated worlds included Coruscant, Corellia, Alderaan, and Duro, and thus the Rakatans focused more on their conquered Core Worlds than expanding more into the Outer Rim. The Rakatans often used double-bladed swords of which proved effective to overcome challengers with other melee weapons, but it was the Rakatans who developed the first guns that blasted a heavily concentrated light beam (the laserbolt) as new weaponry. No other humanoid species was able to develop this new weaponry, which quickly became known as the laser blaster, which came in the form of hand-pistols and rifles. The Rakatans enslaved the sentient species of well-populated Core Worlds, including the Humans, the Duros, the Dralls, and the Selonians. The Rakatans also had starship engines that were capable of traveling through hyperspace, which enabled their far-reaching abilities to reach distant areas of the Domelake Galaxy. Elongated interstellar voids in the Domelake Galaxy became great hyperspace runs, which the Rakatans discovered first. However, at 25200BBY, a plague struck the Rakatans (which affected them only), forcing numerous members of their species to die out. The Humans, which numbered in the billions in their population on Coruscant, rebelled against their Rakatan overlords, while claiming the Rakatan blasters, and then started to develop their own technology, including more powerful starships with hyperdrive technology. With such a high population, the Humans had then overexerted all natural resources on Coruscant, and thus had to go elsewhere for new planets to settle, besides Corellia and Alderaan. The Duros also rebelled by also claiming the Rakatan blasters and using them against their old overlords; and after their success, the Duros started becoming spacefaring with hyperdrive technology as well. The population of Tatooine reached 200,000 Gaderiffiis and Jawas, and finding them in their respective locations on Tatooine, carrying their four-tipped-cross spears and their baskets, while combing the beaches, the grasslands, and the forests in search of something to hunt and/or gather was still a common sight. The mwoots also commonly nested in the nearby trees, cheeping every morning. Below, herds of eopies crashed through the low brush. Near a grassland, a karnop successfully dodged and fled from a mouth tentacle of a nearby adult sarlacc. One Jawa chief and his wife named Withocal and Colopi respectfully became very influential on Jawarundiu. They and their tribe were also able to determine the safer routes on the continent, where anoobas often did not dwell. As a result, trade between Jawa tribes increased, thanks to the work of Withocal and Colopi. 

* * *

**25000BBY**

They were not the very first to study the energy field that the microscopic midichlorians created—known as the Force; and they were not the very first to implement the symbiotic relationship between these midichlorians and any other living being to make the other living being Force-sensitive. However, there were the Force-sensitive Humans on the planet Tython that they had recently settled. They called themselves Jedis. The Jedis established themselves as an organized society of monastic warriors, whom believed in peace, harmony, knowledge, justice, and serenity; and whom harnessed the Force for positive energy and for the greater good. The Jedis were originally a cluster of Force-sensitive Humans from Coruscant, whom originally wanted to found a monastic order for themselves for quiet meditation, for knowledge and learning, and for peaceful communal living among themselves, apart from much action in the galaxy. This Force-sensitive Humans' designation of _jedi_ came from ancient Coruscanti-Human, meaning “leaders of the dramatic period”, which itself took from the notion of the dramatic period before Humans became dominant on Coruscant about fifty thousand years before. For a span of fifty thousand years, Humans had very little historical records of the time that they became dominant on Coruscant, save for a few ancient letter-characters for example. However, it was these Jedis from Tython, who temporarily went back to Coruscant and who archaeologically discovered this part of the Humans’ own distant past. They found long-buried artifacts and remains of settlements, and spent much time archaeologically analyzing them and their importance to the long-before Humans. Thus, Coruscant and the native Humans now had records of the past, thanks to the archaeological studies of these Force-sensitive Jedis. The Jedis’ monastic society on Tython soon became the Jedi Order, and even at that time, the Jedis knew that those who used the Force for personal power became corrupted. As Tython became more Human-populated, the Jedis adopted metal-bladed swords as their weaponry (preferring them over laser blasters) in their fight to keep order and justice; and the Jedis channeled the Force into their swords as well. Melee weaponry and its expert wielding was certainly the way to go for Jedis. These fighting abilities proved to be needed because Tython faced the occasional threat from the outside, and the Jedis always stepped up to the defense. Yet, bladed swords at several times proved to be no match for laser blasters, especially when there was a no-surprise confrontation. However, Jedis in their pursuit of knowledge still studied lasers along with laserbolts from blasters and how they were effective. Thus, it was not long until the Jedis learned to repeatedly cycle photons in order to suspend a 1m-long laser beam, which they implemented as the earliest lightsabers. The Jedis discovered a way to gather crystalline lenses, in which a power cell became used to produce a laser-like concentration of light and energy. This concentration of light and energy cyclically traveled in a narrow oblong shape, which shaped the saber beam, and which was the same thickness of a laserbolt from a blaster. The power cell and the crystalline lenses were all housed in a polished and plated steel handle as well. Amazingly, this light sword hummed and hummed very slightly more loudly when moving through the air, and these hums very soon became very distinguishable to the new lightsabers. If these features were not enough, the cyclically traveling concentrated light and energy could deflect the one-way travelling light-and-energy beams as these cyclic photons from the sabers bounced off outside photons away from them. In other words, lightsabers could deflect laserbolts; and this was a great benefit to the Jedis, facing adversaries that were well-armed with laser blasters. Those who originally wanted to fight the Jedis became fear-stricken of the Jedis' lightsabers' deflective capabilities. It was also not long until the more proactive Jedis from Tython set out into the galaxy to help those in need and fight tyranny, in which these proactive Jedis adopted a new term—Jedi Knights. Also at this time, four planets founded a republican government with democratic principles, known as the Galactic Republic in the Domelake Galaxy. Human scientists and engineers on Corellia were also able to improve the old Rakatan hyperdrive technology, making long-distance travel and the ability to reach other planets mush easier to accomplish. The planets Alderaan, Corellia, Coruscant and Duro—all Core Worlds—become the four founding worlds of this new Galactic Republic, which were all easily reached among each other via this hyperdrive technology. As for Tatooine, nothing had changed in this time, although many Gaderiffiis and Jawas still spoke of the starships that many of their forebears saw ages and ages ago, when they gathered around their campfires at nightfall. Both Gaderiffii and Jawaese storytellers also became demanded, as the best storytellers were able to convey stories of their pasts as well as the past of their planet, striking awe and wonder among the listeners of their tribes. Many Gaderiffii and Jawaese storytellers also conveyed stories of their observations of the sky, which included the mysterious starships. Those stories never became boring. 

* * *

**20000BBY**

Humans at this time invented robotic droids, which were originally meant for basic assistance. Maintenance droids and power droids (which required lesser mechanics to function) were the oldest droids, but then eventually more complex droids (which required greater mechanics to function, like locomotors) with complex duties came about. Droids first appeared on Coruscant but it was not long till droids started spreading to other Core Worlds of the Republic and alongside other sentient species. The Jedis at the invitation of the Republic also stepped up to serve as the government’s quasi-militaristic guardians of peace and justice. With greater purposes to their way of life, the Jedis founded an organized society, called the Jedi Order; and older, more-experienced Jedis started becoming Jedi Masters to younger, less-experienced Jedis. When not in need to fight for justice, all Jedis devoted themselves to communal living in a monastic-style gathering, peaceful meditation, and scholarly learning. The Republic’s high politicians were quite impressed by the scholarly, monastic, Force-sensitive warriors, who worked for the greater good only as many Jedis were proving themselves in keeping justice within the Republic and in repelling outside invasions of ground forces. The Human language also became well used in the Republic to the point where it became regularly interplanetary. Thus, the Republic officially renamed the Human language as Basic because almost everyone, regardless of humanoid species, used or could use this “basic” language. The Duran language also became widely used in the Republic, though not as much as the Human-generated Basic. However, the Republic also officially renamed the Duran language as Bocce, which also meant “basic” in Duran. It only took a thousand years for the increasingly numerous planets of the Galactic Republic to adopt Basic as the primary universal language, and Bocce as the secondary universal language. However, these two languages would not reach Tatooine and other more distant planets for many more millennia. The new Galactic Republic also imposed a taxing system to its planetary citizens, with money for the government and a little extra for the Jedi Order. Still, the birds chirped every morning when Tatoo I and Tatoo II began their rise, every day. The breaking waves of the Eastern, Western and Northern Seas continued to be soothing to the Gaderiffii and Jawaese ear at the beaches in their respective Tatooinian lands as well. A pursued jakrab finding an escape route in the grasses from an anooba was also still common. A mother krayt dragon raising her head and neck above the trees, and trumpeting to call her young was also heard for a fair amount of times. Tatooine still looked like the paradise planet that it had been for a very long time. A Gaderiffii named Co'Jil became famous for his throwing of the four-tipped-cross spear with extreme accuracy. Co'Jil demonstrated his abilities to hit his targets (which were trees with markings) to other amazed Gaderiffii onlookers, asking for more. 

* * *

**10000BBY**

At this time, all Gaderiffiis and Jawas started to theorize that the planet Tatooine was a giant, round sphere, since they could see that the planet's three moons were also round and spherical and that the twin suns, the stars, and the distant bulge of the Domelake Galaxy all revolved in a spherical fashion above their planet's surface. This viewpoint had no effect on the day-to-day activities of the Gaderiffiis and the Jawas, since this realization of what their homeworld has always been like this. The Gaderiffiis and the Jawas also started wondering if there really was something beyond their homeworld, and something towards the distant and dim but present central bulge of the Domelake Galaxy. Perhaps it was there, where those mysterious starships (that still remained in their stories) came from, but no one could know for sure. The population of Tatooine also reached 250,000 Gaderiffiis and Jawas. Mwoots hunted groundchiggers on the fallen bark on the ground. Corletures cheeped among each other within the trees, causing a chorus to the parties of Gaderiffii hunters with their four-tipped-cross spears traversing their paths through the forests below. These Gaderiffii hunters hoped to find a bantha to hunt for their tribes. 

* * *

**5500BBY**

A rogue planet entered the outer limits of the Tatoo System. Where it came from, no one knew; but it was heading towards the twin suns. From Tatooine, it appeared small like a new star in the night sky in the beginning, but it grew larger and larger and brighter to the point where both the Jawas and the Gaderiffiis were taking strong notice to the point of instilling fear and major concern. Indeed, member of both species starting to fear that this “star” was going to crash and destroy Tatooine because this astronomical object was seemingly heading straight for their planet because every day, this “star” was bigger and brighter. The rogue planet was approaching the twin suns with Tatooine in an orbital arc in between. So, the rogue planet appeared in the night sky, opposite of the twin suns, and starting to rise roughly when the suns were setting. It soon became obvious that this increasingly bright star was not a star at all but a planet from outside the Tatoo system. The rogue planet started looking like a small moon at about a month before the upcoming encounter with Tatooine. The Jawas named the planet Yominol, which meant “sky invader”, while the Gaderiffiis named the planet Hurmhurmet, which meant “unwanted thing from the sky”. Ohann and Adriana were in their orbits on the opposite side of the twin suns, so lucky for them, their orbits were not going to be perturbed. However, Tatooine in sheer bad luck was on the same side. Both Jawas and Gaderiffiis started performing rituals in the early mornings and in the evenings, while they prayed to the god and goddess of light and life respectively that they will save them and their home planet from that sky rogue in desperation. Three weeks before the encounter, the rogue planet now appeared slightly but noticeably larger than Tatoo I and Tatoo II, and when it rose in the night sky, it looked horrifying, needless to say. The night sky closely around the rogue planet started looking blueish too. The rogue planet was now distinctively a terrestrial planet and not a gas giant, which made some Jawas and Gaderiffiis feel a bit relieved because the smaller the planet, the less likely it would hit Tatooine. Another week passed, and the birds began chirping, cheeping and squawking at night as the rogue planet now looked quite bright to the point of casting shadows that were brighter than Tatooine’s three moons, combined. The birds became confused with their circadian rhythms disturbed. Jawa and Gaderiffii children could not sleep at night as they cried, while burying their faces in their mother’s bellies, while the mothers cried on their mates’ shoulders. Gaderiffiis also heard moans from banthas, womp rats, and krayt dragons; and Jawas also heard moans from jerbas and anoobas, for these animals too had started waking up a lot from the bright light of the unwanted sky invader at night. Some Jawas and Gaderiffiis independently in the middle of the night, however, started to position the rogue planet and make a good estimate on whether or not the planet will hit Tatooine, and some of both species were starting to feel a slight relief again. Day by day, the rogue planet slowly but surely started to appear more and more that it was not going to hit Tatooine, despite the increasing apparent size. One week before the encounter, the rogue planet appeared very large, but it was now looking gibbous, and then gibbous to almost a quarter phase. More Jawas and Gaderiffiis were feeling relieved that Tatooine was going to be spared and they started sleeping better at night with thicker covering for their huts, and many started upholding rituals of thanks. However, the circadian rhythms of pretty much all animals on Tatooine were imbalanced to the point where a fair number were dropping in the daytime from exhaustion. There was something else too. The oceanic tides were rising quite high. What were the shorelines of the Western, Eastern and Northern Seas once a couple-hundred of kilometers away, were now becoming closeby; and the tides started swallowing many coastal trees, and many birds started flying more inland, and rontos, dewbacks, krayt dragons, banthas, jerbas and womp rats were doing the same on foot. Jawas and Gaderiffiis in their respective areas also began heading more inland as the water seemed to gain ground two meters per minute, with the next day it was ten meters per minute. It was going to get a lot worse. On the day of the encounter, the rogue planet was out of range of Tatooine by five planetary diameters of Tatooine as it passed by, and the invader was slightly smaller than Tatooine. The rogue planet's movement was now visible as it slowly and continuously shifted itself in the Tatooinian sky. Tatooine’s three moons were all opposite of the unwanted sky invader, so there would be minimal perturbations of the moons’ orbits thankfully. However, Tatooine itself was going to undergo a radical change. First, although the rogue planet was quite the awesome sight as it now appeared colossal in quarter phase as it was now "right next" to Tatooine, the passby caused monstrous megatsunamis from both the Western, Eastern and even Northern Seas that washed ashore at eight hundred kilometers per hour, and reaching a thousand kilometers inland on all coasts. About a tenth of Jawas and Gaderiffiis on the whole planet perished, since they could not make it inland fast enough. Noticeably less but fair numbers of animals also perished, even though they sensed the danger earlier and started inland sooner. Even this was only the beginning. Every Jawa, Gaderiffii and animal started experiencing severe headaches, which forced everyone and everything to roll over on the ground in pain; and everyone and everything had a feeling of getting lighter (as if a Gaderiffii, a Jawa, or even a bantha could easily jump several meters up in the air) as the rogue planet fully reached the closest span to Tatooine. More than thankfully, the pains in the head only lasted a minute and then they started to wane. Next, there were immense megaearthquakes that started occurring. To the observances of the Jawas and Gaderiffiis, both species knew something was happening within the oceans because the whole planet vibrated, and the vibrations were loud. Furthermore, all Jawas, Gaderiffiis, and animals on the ground felt tossed in the air by up to a few meters. Even the large and heavy krayt dragons and banthas fell over fast from the shifting grounds. Only the birds in flight did not experience this megashock, even though they first uncontrollably underwent a fast rise upwards in the air by several hundred meters at the closest span between the planets before regaining control and being able to fly back down. Then, everything fell silent—eerily silent, save for the repeating large breaking oceanic waves (which were now only about five to ten meters high), the moaning of nearby banthas, rontos and dewbacks, and the chirping of cowering birds in the inland trees. The cemaths also kept themselves huddled in their burrows. Even predators like the womp rats and the anoobas curled themselves up in their respective areas. The Jawa clan members and Gaderiffii tribe members also huddled together in their respective locations, while wailing and wishing for this to be fully over. Both the Jawas and the Gaderiffiis in the next hours saw the rogue planet already starting to appear crescent and smaller and more “in front” of them than “behind” them or "next to" them with respect to the twin suns. Others noticed that this rogue planet was rocky and well-cratered and seemingly devoid of an atmosphere or life. The next day passed, and the oceanic waves already started to simmer down noticeably, and the rogue planet started to eclipse the twin suns. For the first time in months, there was a real night sky with only starlights, moonlights and the galactic central bulge and spiral arms of the galaxy to see. The next day after that, the unwanted, invading rogue planet in the sky did not appear to be heading towards the twin suns, but instead seemed to “move to the side” of Tatooine as if passing in front of Tatooine rather than by it. The rogue planet caused an eclipse of the twin suns, which lasted for half a day. Needless to say, it was relieving to all of Tatooine's life-forms when the eclipse was over. Then, finally, the rogue planet started to move away from Tatooine. Surprisingly, the ocean levels returned to the original shorelines rather quickly, though the vegetation in the megatsunamis’ path was fully wiped out. No volcanoes formed, mainly because although Tatooine had a large solid inner core, it had not had a much of a molten outer core. Furthermore, Tatooine also had a thicker crust, and Tatooine had much slower plate tectonics than most terrestrial planets in the Domelake Galaxy. However, something was changing.

Another month passed. The rogue planet was now only like a bright star again. It was this time when the Jawas and Gaderiffiis finally fully stopped worrying about their planet’s fate. Yet, there seemed to be new things to worry about. The Western Sea, Northern Sea and Eastern Sea were receding and receding. First, it was the water level rising that was alarming. Now, it was the water level falling that was alarming. If that was not enough, the temperature started to rise. From 20°-30°C, it was now 30°-40°C, and the twin suns started appearing even brighter than before. The Jawas and Gaderiffiis had to shield their eyes a lot more than before. Also, though both humanoid species were partially hairy, their hairless faces started burning from increased ultraviolet rays from the suns. It became very uncomfortable to come out in the sunlight in the daytime, every day. The ocean tides were still receding, about 10 meters per day; and Jawarundiu’s shorelines now seemed to be “running away” from the Jawas, trying to keep up with them. No Jawa nor Gaderiffii had any idea where the water was going. Many from both species quickly started to gather water from the freshwater lakes and rivers at dawn and dusk, every day now. Sometimes they could not get water because krayt dragons and bantha herds were already occupying these small bodies of water. However, it was not long till neither from both humanoid species could walk out in the sunlight anymore, and had to stay inside their huts all day. Many Jawa and Gaderiffii elders tried to make sense of the matter, while others again began rituals to their gods, sending cries for help and chanting to break any ominous spell that may had come about them. Another month passed, and now, both the Jawas and the Gaderiffiis had no choice but to wear protective clothing, not just to protect themselves from the increased ultraviolet rays but also to help conserve as much body moisture as possible. The Jawas preferred thick cloaks with hoods that were made from dried grasses that they put over their everyday thin-leathered jerba-hide clothing in the beginning. However, Jawas soon started wearing thick-leathered, jerba-hide clothing, complimented by a thick cloak with a thick hood made from knitted dark-brown jerba-tail hair. These cloaks that the Jawas hand-weaved themselves very soon became the preferred choice of outer attire. Jawa men, women and children alike very simply wore the same hooded cloaks, keeping a monotonous appearance. The Jawas certainly had to skill themselves in knitting these cloaks, which could take a couple of months to knit. The good news was that the Jawa cloaks were so durable that they could last for several years, even with continued usage, before having to replace them. Also, the Jawas’ bioluminescent eyes became the only visible facial feature of the Jawa face when the Jawas were cloaked and hooded, in which was almost all the time. The Gaderiffiis on the other hand went on a noticeably different path in their wardrobes and embraced different styling. The Gaderiffii men and women preferred to wear different clothing, though clothes from both species were mainly robes that were made from thick, tan-colored, leathered bantha hide. However, the robes were styled differently for both genders. The men also bandaged their heads with two protruding eye tubes, made from hollowed animal bone. The male Gaderiffiis required this kind of shielding for their eyes from the closer twin suns. Gaderiffii men also wore a mouth filter, that also slightly protruded outwards, and that was made from even thicker, leathered bantha hide that they perforated to keep them from inhaling too much hot air. The Gaderiffii women wore a thick-leathered hood that had a small but modest-sized visual opening, which was also large enough to breathe through but not too large as to let in too much hot air. Gaderiffii children wore robes and hoods that resembled those of the women, though were more simplistic in style. The protective clothing for both species actually kept their bodies well-insulated and protected from the brighter suns; and now, they could venture out in the open during the day again. It took only about a full year for the entire populations of Jawas and Gaderiffiis to fully adopt these protective wardrobes; and both species adopted thick-leathered boots. The brighter suns per se seemed to have had little to no effect on the animals and plants. However, in a full year, the oceans had fully disappeared, and the vegetation was drying and dying fast. The water cycle was broken, and clouds that rained made their presence less and less, until there were almost no more clouds for up to a year. The sandy ocean floors had become exposed to the suns, covered with dead fish and crumbling corals. Many land animals were dying off too, and both Jawas and Gaderiffiis had to contend with the stench of decaying matter. No one could theorize what was happening, except for the possibility that their gods could be being vengeful for any particular reason. One elderly Jawa, who practiced science, correctly theorized that the passing of the rogue planet altered the orbit of Tatooine, and though this elderly Jawa could not prove it, he was indeed correct. The smaller rogue planet was caught in Tatooine’s gravity temporarily but escaped while Tatooine swung the rogue planet’s course through space, while the rogue planet slightly but noticeably swung Tatooine out of its own orbital path to a new orbit that was closer to the twin suns, which was still in the making for now. Tatooine was going to still be in the habitable zone, but it was still closer to the suns to the point that Tatooine’s environment was inescapably undergoing a major transformation. However, no one could explain the disappearance of Tatooine’s oceans, especially since the oceans did not boil away. Though there was some oceanic salt “left behind”, most of the oceanic salt was gone too. 

* * *

**5000BBY**

Now, Tatooine was officially a desert planet, joining the club of desert planets in the Domelake Galaxy, such as Florrum, Geonosis, Sriluur, Askaj, and Mandalore within the galaxy. Tatooine’s new orbit around the twin suns now became fully stable, but it was still a smaller and closer orbit. As a desert planet, daytime temperature regularly reached though often never exceeded 43°C, though in some exceptions, the temperature reached up to 65.5°C. Of course, chances of this high temperature was when the Tatoo I and Tatoo II were high in the sky. At night, the temperature regularly ranged from almost getting as low as freezing to getting noticeably below freezing as there was much less water vapor to trap the daytime heat by nightfall. With the brighter suns, the blue sky was brighter too, and clouds were extremely rare to non-existent. It was sunny and clear almost constantly, and the distinct seasons vanished. Sand, sand, sand was everywhere on Tatooine, which reflected a lot of extra brightness to the landscapes. Tatooine’s ocean floors comprised of sand, and the retreated oceans exposed all of this ocean-floor sand now. There were some salt flats now but not many. The Eastern, Western and Northern Seas became the Eastern, Western and Northern Dune Seas. Lakes and rivers fully dried up as the water cycle was broken and Tatooine skies only clouded up and rained only once to twice per year. Even Tatooine's North and South Poles were hot and sandy during the daytimes. All fish and cephalopods were now fully extinct on Tatooine. Almost all vegetation from Tatooine’s once-abundant forests and grasslands, completely dried up, and then crumbled and flaked away. There were no signs of hivi-hivi trees, miba-miba trees, cholp grasses, vraalaa bushes, lilunu trees, or lucit-lucit trees, and were all now very likely extinct. Nearly five thousand years later, a galactic senator from Naboo named Padmé Amidala would identify the birds by their chirps and songs on her home planet. However, on Tatooine, not a single chirp, cheep, squawk, or birdsong was to be heard anymore on Tatooine’s landscapes for all of Tatooine’s birds were disappearing due to the fast disappearance of their habitats. Some Jawas and Gaderiffiis saw some holdouts of karnops, hunting scorpions; but womp rats were soon outcompeting them to the point where karnops also were disappearing. Several Jawas, who were bird lovers, made extra efforts to capture and captivate the remaining birds of all species, and they were able to save many birds before they entirely disappeared from the wild. Tatooine’s topsoil dried up fully and the winds only blew away the organic particles, leaving only the sand and gravel that partially comprised the original topsoil. Sand extended to the horizons almost all the time, wherever on the planet, save the remaining caves, canyons, and bluffs within sight. Wind was still prevalent, and many sand dunes formed as well. With no vegetation and oceans, violent sandstorms raged unhampered throughout the planet too. The ground of Tatooine’s plains and plateaus was now sand, gravel and exposed rock. Yet, with Tatooine’s good protective magnetosphere and its ozone layer, the very small remaining biosphere remained overall protected at least, even though Tatooine officially became a desert planet. Despite the planet’s photosynthesis that was only a tiny fraction above 0%, Tatooine would still have its oxygen for more than thirty-five thousand years. With fewer life forms to breathe the oxygen, there would still be plenty in the atmosphere to go around for a long time. Jawas and Gaderiffiis started traversing the immense sand expanses, which were all once ocean floors. The Gaderiffiis, in an attempt to make any sense of this matter, strove to embrace the immense change as if the gods wanted it to be this way for incomprehensible reasons, and wanted to present Tatooine to the Gaderiffiis in a new fashion. The Gaderiffiis now formed new tribal villages in the midst of their sandy terrains of the planet, and adopted a new name for themselves—the Hom-Gaderiffiis, with _hom-gaderiffii_ , meaning “Sandperson”, though their language was still Gaderiffii. The Sandpeople now believed that Tatooine was meant for them and them only as the masters of the planet. Sandpeople also quickly claimed a very-large natural bridge in the northern Jundland Wastes, where water once drained underneath, as a sacred site as the natural bridge was a mesmerizing site indeed. Sandpeople, after being forced to abandon gathering and farming, still hunted. The male Sandpeople now adorned spikes, also made of bone, on their bandaged heads as a wardrobe improvement for now, the Sandpeople started looking at themselves as a warrior culture, and a warrior culture that must fight for its resources and for keeping its top-status as Tatooine’s masters. The spikes also symbolically manifested this new culture of theirs, and they started training themselves to fear less than before in general. The Jawas and Sandpeople, though two different humanoid species, still used the four-tipped-cross spears, which continued to strongly imply the common ancestry between the two. Yet, Jawas still kept their style very simplistic and avoided adornments. Both Sandpeople and Jawas continued to move about Tatooine, looking for a friendlier place to live, traversing on land, including what was once open-ocean. When the first Sandperson and the first Jawa saw each other by accident for the first time at c.5000BBY, both saw an unusual sight and something wholly different from what the other was. The body size and the attire of both were very different with only their four-tipped-cross spears being the same. However, Sandpeople and Jawas did indeed distinguish themselves from each other as separate beings; and Sandpeople already sought to be the dominant humanoid species on Tatooine. Jawas already had a fear of the imposing Sandpeople, which were twice their size. However, also at c.5000BBY, the first and only organized battle between Jawas and Sandpeople took place. It would be known as the Battle of the Sands of Tatooine, when roughly one thousand Jawas battled one thousand Sandpeople for a waterhole that had not yet fully evaporated and which would only carry enough water for one thousand people for a month. The Jawas and the Sandpeople marched to each other in formation. Then, both Jawas and Sandpeople raised their four-tipped-cross spears against each other and the battle ensued with melee fighting and spearthrowing, but the noticeably superior size of the Sandpeople proved too much for the Jawas. The aftermath consisted of nine hundred Jawa casualties to only two-hundred fifty Sandperson casualties with the remaining Jawas retreating fast and with the victorious Sandpeople claiming the waterhole and raising their four-tipped-cross spears over their heads with two hands and chanting and dancing to their victory. After the Battle of the Sands of Tatooine, Jawas knew that Sandpeople always had right of way on their planet. Both Sandpeople and Jawas also occasionally took shelter in the plentiful caves within the dried up seas in their quests to find any remaining vegetation and above-ground water. 

However, unbeknownst to the Jawas and Sandpeople, there was some liquid surface water still present but only in isolated pockets far within the deep caves. The large woodlice seemed to be the only life forms that knew of this liquid water. Though there was no natural light where the water was, the woodlice almost always kept near except for few times when they ventured to the cave mouths. The woodlice used their sensory receptors on their two small antennae to detect the water’s presence when darkness became dominant in the cave depths. The monsterflies also often stayed within the caves during the daytime, but they often came out of the caves during the slightly cooler early-mornings and late-evenings as they were able to draw any moisture out of the air with their hydrophilic bumps around their mouth areas, which then they take the water to their mouths. The monsterflies remained in the caves, which preserved some heat from the daytime at night. The once-abundant kreetles had their populations severely reduced at first, but they were far from endangered. The kreetles could survive by also drawing water from their air with hydrophilic bumps from around their mouth areas as well, even though they had to traverse hot sands instead of cool forest floors. Kreetles often turned to burrowing in the sand at night. Rockmites and groundchiggers also turned to burrowing in the sand at night, and they were still able to find some organic matter to feed upon during the daytime. 

Scorpions were one of few animals of Tatooine, who found the new limitless desert to be to their benefit. With their ability to control their metabolisms and to slow them down when needed, their ability to snap out of dormancy in an instant when potential food was in reach, and their great ability to burrow themselves in the desert sands to avoid the sunlight and the heat when needed, scorpions began to populate the newfound deserts of the planet. However, even they had limits, and could not go and live just anywhere in large and increasing numbers. They still had to remain near areas that were once forests and beaches, where some food was more readily available. So, even though there were now more scorpions than before, there was definitely no population explosion of scorpions. Plus, womp rats, which were fully immune to the scorpions’ poison, still hunted them at every opportunity and were instrumental in keeping their populations in check. 

Sandworms also expanded their range. Sandworms also started burrowing in the now-dried canyon floors, and they still ambushed a prey animal that they could overcome. Yet, finding a sandworm in the jaws of a krayt dragon will still a common sight as well. 

Almost surprisingly, the eopies were only lightly affected by Tatooine’s immense transformation. Eopies still managed to find a food source with their very keen sense of smell, which were razor mosses that still grew in the more shaded areas regularly. There were enough mosses to keep most eopies nourished, and thus eopies still were able to graze for their food. If this was not enough, an eopie occasionally stumbled upon a fallen hubba gourd that still grew on Tatooine, though far less than before.

Lowland snakes and forest lizards also made a new home in the canyon walls, near the canyon floors of the Jundland Wastes. The abundant insects were plentiful for them. These two smaller-sized reptiles saw little change to their lifestyles. Cemaths started burrowing in the sand, and jakrabs did the same. 

The krayt dragons, very much found a way to adapt to the waterless seas. The krayts learned to submerge themselves in the sands; and instead of swimming in water, they now swam in the sand. Their powerful limbs and their elongated bodies, including their long necks and tails, allowed them to swim in the sand with ease. The krayt dragons could also burrow very quickly in the sand, keeping its nostrils and eyes a fraction above the surface, and then attack nearby prey when the time was right. Surprisingly, the krayt dragons always found a way to keep themselves well hydrated. It was a total mystery where the very large krayt dragons found their water source. 

Rontos roamed the desert plateaus of Tatooine, and turned to feeding on razor mosses that formed on rocks in the shady areas. However, despite this, rontos suffered immensely from the desertification of Tatooine with many dying out. In fact, rontos were well on their way to extinction for their large bodies required a lot of plant nourishment. The ronto population started to decline, and there was fierce competition among them for any available food. Rontos could travel through desert environments, but they could not go far without food and water. As a result, many rontos collapsed and died, trying to cross desolate areas. Some ronto parents even abandoned some of their young that could not keep up with the herds. The same thing could be said for jerbas, who also suffered severe population declines for they too were not built to live in desert environments.

Dewbacks could thrive in Tatooine’s heat and desert environment. However, the cold-blooded, reptilian dewbacks were very susceptible to the cold nights of Tatooine without its vegetation and high water vapor. At night, dewbacks definitely needed to huddle among each other at night and more preferably at the mouths of caves which preserved some heat. Should a lone dewback be caught in the open at night, they became distressfully lethargic, but often can survive one typical night. Longer nights without protection could prove fatal to dewbacks, however. Yet, in the morning, dew often collected on these large reptiles (particularly on their backs), and social groups licked the dew off of each other to obtain some early-morning hydration. This was what led the Jawas to start calling them dewbacks in their language of Jawaese, in which this new name for these bulky reptiles would later catch on quickly with those speaking Basic and Bocce. 

One of the most surprising survivors were the banthas. One would think that the hairy, shaggy mammals would bake to death in the desert heat, but banthas were so hairy that the hair proved to be of their benefit. The thick layer of hair actually kept their bodies well shaded and thus cooler, even in the immense heat of midday. Banthas could even travel long distances in the daytime, and seeing bantha herds traversing vast desert expanses was a rather common sight. At night, banthas had this same hair to keep themselves warm at night. Banthas in their new environment often traveled slowly in order to conserve energy, even when in herds. However, when needing to flee or charge or gore, banthas would move very quickly. Banthas never passed up on hubba gourds and razor mosses that they picked with their dexterous tongues. Surprisingly, banthas always seemed to find food when they really needed to do so. At the same time, they also kept themselves well-hydrated for mysterious reasons. It was like banthas knew where to find water and obtain it with ease. Sandpeople and Jawas occasionally hunted banthas for their meat, and their leathered hides were often used for clothes. 

Womp rats learned to adapt to a desert environment, though many were known to congregate in canyons. Womp rats ventured out into the desert to hunt scorpions during the mornings and the evenings, but kept themselves sheltered within the canyons during midday. The hair of womp rats were not very bushy and shaggy, and were sleek instead, which proved to be to their disadvantage in the open sunlight and heat. Nonetheless, womp rats had sometimes hopped in the open desert when they really needed to find new grounds. Womp rats and anoobas, which never encountered each other before, found themselves in conflict for kills or scavenging sites many times. 

Worrts were surprise survivors, despite being amphibians in a desert environment. Worrts never ventured far into caves, but instead they were able to naturally draw moisture through their skin. Thus worrts became active in the early mornings and in the late evenings, but then quickly burrowed themselves in the sand during the daytime to rest and to protect themselves from the heat. Worrts also frequented very long shady areas in the daytime. Worrts were long-lived and they only needed to reproduce sporadically, and particularly when there were the rare showers, which often produced small puddles. Females laid their eggs, and when the eggs hatched, the larvae grew quickly and matured often just in time before the puddles fully dried up.

No sentient being knew of their existence. However, with the hills of the far side of the planet completely devoid of vegetation, lumnols declined in number fast with no place to find food. The last lumnol died at about ten years after the rogue planet passby, and the species went fully extinct. 

Tatooine also had low-ground mists and even fog that appeared, both within the canyon walls of the Jundland Wastes and within random areas of the dune seas during the nighttime. On the nights when temperatures dropped to below freezing, frost even formed on the canyon walls and even on the sandy surfaces. Many sentient beings, who discovered this, whether Jawas, Sandpeople, (or settlers of other species that would come much later), were awestruck that there can be a whole lot of cool humidity at certain times and places on a hot desert planet. Though there were no fully nocturnal species on Tatooine after the planet became desert-covered, many animals came to these areas to lick as much condensed water as possible (whether licking the water off of rocks, or even by licking the air to draw in water to their mouths) just before the sunrise of the two stars. After which, the misty vapor mixed with the surface air as the planet quickly heated up for the daytime. As anyone would expect, frost would melt and evaporate quickly when the suns rose, every morning. Jawas very soon learned to harvest condensed, dripping water from the rocks. The small animals, such as jakrabs, cemaths, and forest lizards, for instance, found it easy to keep themselves hydrated as they lingered near dripping water from the rocks before sunrise. The very few remaining deb-deb trees, razor mosses and funnel flowers grew within the canyons in very isolated pockets that had both access to sunlight and were regularly in the midst of the thick mists at night. Both Jawas and Sandpeople soon looked at these remaining plants as sacred, and did all to never disturb them, but they surely admired them from far away. As if by instinct, both the Jawas and the Sandpeople only harvested half of all deb-debs and funnel melons, while letting the other half use their seeds for new trees. Some ripened funnel melons also tumbled towards the canyon floors of the Jundland Wastes. The hubba shrubs were also isolated but a fair number of ripened hubba gourds tumbled towards the canyon floors of the Jundland Wastes. These fallen deb-debs, funnel melons, and hubba gourds were quite coveted by remaining herbivorous animals as well as from Jawas and Sandpeople, needless to say. Some cemaths were able to climb the canyon walls and reach the pockets, where the plants grew, and also feast on a nutritious deb-deb, hubba gourd, or funnel melon that already fell from their tree or shrub. 

* * *

**4500BBY**

The Sandpeople started to domesticate the banthas, instead of resorting to hunting them. At first, banthas were captured and corralled in enclosed pens as livestock. However, it was not long before the Sandpeople started looking at banthas for new purposes. Banthas, despite their adult sizes, were overall gentle giants if not provoked. Sandpeople, despite their ferocious demeanor, actually grew very kind to banthas and started taming many of them. Some Sandpeople started riding banthas, and surprisingly, banthas did not mind the Sandpeople, riding on their backs. In fact, banthas barely felt a Sandperson rider. Immediately, the Sandpeople started to take bantha calves and start domesticating more banthas. Before long, banthas were beasts of burden, particularly for providing transport for Sandpeople. An individual Sandperson soon bonded with an individual bantha. Furthermore, an individual Sandperson with a bantha did not “own” the bantha, but instead had fully partnered with the bantha. Rituals between Sandpeople and their banthas also began, particularly with male Sandpeople partnering with male banthas, and with female Sandpeople partnering with female banthas. Also, when a Sandperson reached the age of seven, the tribe presented him/her with a bantha calf of the same gender to bond with. Sandpeople children could not wait to get their bantha partners, and were always excited when it was time for this special ritual. Almost one hundred percent of the time, a juvenile Sandperson and the bantha calf bonded well and quickly. Sandpeople always responsibly fed their banthas, and only their banthas for that matter. As being the Sandpeople’s cultural rite of passage, a male Sandperson upon reaching adulthood took his bantha and rode him far into the desert and the tribe instructed him that both were to stay together in the empty, desolate desert for a full week. If this newly grown-up male Sandperson and his bantha returned, both received a ceremonial officiating into the tribe with all tribal benefits. If all of this was not enough, a Sandperson partnered with his/her bantha for life; and a long mourning period always followed the survivor, should one die before the other. In the beginning, one Sandperson tribe domesticated the bantha, and very soon other neighboring tribes copied to the point where all Sandpeople practiced bantha domestication. Sandpeople soon also used banthas as war animals to fight rival tribes, and used banthas to chase off tribes that had not yet domesticated the bantha, and to chase off Jawas, who could not domesticate the bantha. This was likely because banthas were too big for the Jawas to handle. Very few Jawas were able to capture and pen bantha calves, though, and as the very few banthas in the Jawas’ care gave the Jawas the discovery of the delicious and nutritious blue milk from nursing female banthas. As a tactic, Sandpeople rode their banthas in single file, so that there were few visible tracks, to effectively hide their numbers. There were still noticeably more banthas than Sandpeople, so finding wild herds of banthas were still common on Tatooine. A Sandperson, who lost his/her bantha, sometimes ventured out to the dune seas and attempted to adopt a new bantha from the wild (whether adult or calf), often with only limited success. Furthermore, the Sandpeople also named their sacred natural bridge the B'Thazoshe Bridge with _b'thazoshe_ as Gaderiffii for "bantha horn turned to stone". This only furthered the importance of banthas to the Sandpeople. 

Sandpeople, also still had their original four-tipped-cross spears—four knapped stone blades affixed in a plus-sign at the front of the wooden staffs. These staffs were still made of wood, but with wood that was almost entire gone from Tatooine, replenishing broken staffs became practically impossible. However, Sandpeople started to make modifications to their four-pointed spears. Many started to take their four knapped blades and place them slightly further down the staff of the spear. Then, these Sandpeople started sharpening the end of the staff, making a fifth point. The Sandpeople used the fifth point also for hunting prey, but they also used this fifth point for poking away scorpions, which were more abundant and arriving in the scene more unpredictably as sand was everywhere. Sandpeople also started modifying the opposite ends of the spears to have blunter end with a side point. This opposite point was good for prodding banthas to get moving while ridden, even though the Sandpeople only gently prodded their banthas when needing them to move. The blunt part was used for whacking small prey animals. After a few centuries, the four-tipped-cross spear evolved to what the Sandpeople called the Gaderiffii stick, and it became common practice for all Sandpeople throughout Tatooine to possess one Gaderiffii stick. These Gaderiffii sticks, or gaffi sticks for short, were rarely used as spears. Gaffi sticks were now used as melee weapons and occasional tools. Male Sandpeople started training to fight with their gaffi sticks, practicing melee sparring among each other. Using gaffi sticks as swords and/or clubs in these contests was very common. Sparring resulted in no intended hurt or injuries among the Sandpeople. However, one gaffi stick’s wooden staff occasionally broke during a sparring session, leaving the “loser” with no gaffi stick. The “loser” quickly gathered the four knapped spearpoints, dislodged them from the broken staff, and had to set off to find any remaining wood in the desolate wilderness, to make a new gaffi stick for himself. Finding new wood became rarer and rarer. 

There was one female sarlacc larva that migrated from what was once the beaches of the Western Sea to well at the center of what was now the Western Dune Sea. Luckily for this sarlacc larva, there were no predatory karnops abound, despite being out in the open. It took several hundred years for this sarlacc to migrate to its final resting spot for its maturation.

* * *

**4200BBY**

The earliest Human settlements came to Tatooine from afar. Over a short time, a saying among settlers arose, which was that one could be blinded more from looking at the sand for a long period of time than from looking at the two suns. Yet, the reason for attempting to settle on the desert planet of Tatooine was the lure of open space. Many of these Human settlers came from Coruscant and Corellia, and all settlement communities (eight in total that were all walled, and spread out over Tatooine) had roughly 500 settlers each. All settlers ensured that their settlements were well-equipped, and bringing much of their resources and technology with them. However, no one exactly knew that Tatooine was quite that much the desert planet, until they approached the Outer Rim world up close. Yet, all settlements were undauntedly determined to succeed, but after roughly twenty-five years for all of them, supplies, particularly water, were soon running out. The main reason was that no one could find any water on the desolate planet of sand, and no one dared venture into the unknown pitch-black caves. Furthermore, even though there were mists and dew at night, this would not be enough water to harvest; and no one knew how to extract water from the atmosphere. Therefore, all the water that the settlers brought was almost the only water that they had, and conservation ran rampant with severe punishments for any settler that even inadvertently wasted as much as milliliter of it. At first, the Human settlers from Coruscant and Corellia did not know of any sentient beings on Tatooine as Jawas and Sandpeople kept a good distance from the settlements. Neither Jawa nor Sandperson had any idea of what actually were these settlements and who were these people. However, these settlements, after not encountering any native humanoid species for the five years, eventually encountered Jawas; and for the first time Humans and Jawas finally had contact. Some of these Jawas finally succumbed to their curiosities and were willing to trade with the early Coruscanti and Corellian Human settlers. At the same time, the Human settlers found Jawas mysterious with their hidden faces and glowing yellow eyes. One Human, who saw an unhooded Jawa, thought that the Jawa’s face was very repulsive with their rodentian/feline/humanoid features, seemingly rolled into one. However, these Jawas (as if knowing that the Human settlers would prize this), brought kegs of water. Thus, the Human settlers and some of the Jawas established some trade of actual commodities with Jawas receiving Human-made goods, which heavily intrigued them. Jawas, for the first time in their own history, encountered advanced technology, including laser-related firearms. Many of these Jawas even asked for discarded technology, because they could learn from even these off-world devices. However, let us reiterate that only some Jawas were willing to trade with the Human settlers because many more Jawas found Humans and their technology intimidating to them; and these Jawas still would not come near the settlements. Thus, there overall were not many trade-related encounters between Humans and Jawas on Tatooine. In turn, water was still ever-so-slowly but surely running out in the Human settlements. Several Jawas, however, were learning the laser blaster and how to use them. Yet, eventually Sandpeople started ambushing the few Jawa trade parties, before the Jawas could approach the settlements, while taking the water. Then, the Sandpeople started to hold their gaffi sticks high in the air with two hands, while chanting that the Human settlers were not welcome on their planet. The Humans, who never saw Sandpeople before, had reasons to fear them and their seemingly more mysteriously unseen faces. Humans correctly assumed that the Sandpeople were hostile. Sandpeople knew that they could not enter the settlements because of the walls, however, Sandpeople now were ambushing Jawa traders on a regular basis. As a result, less and less water came to the settlements, which (needless to say) was an alarming problem. With no water coming, the eight settlements on Tatooine were going to fold; and after one year, settlement after settlement folded until all eight of them folded. Though thankfully no Human died, sadly many Jawas (participating in the trades) were killed by the Sandpeople. As all eight settlements closed, the Humans either headed back to Coruscant and Corellia or headed to other Outer Rim territories to establish new settlements as second attempts. Tatooine’s sentient beings therefore returned to comprising Jawas and Sandpeople only, except for one Human, who chose to remain on the desert planet.

A particular Human father, mother and son were among the first attempted settlers on Tatooine. The married couple were Jedi Masters Sidorna and Etlide Diath, and lived in secret in one of the eight settlements. They had to keep their Jedi identities in secret for it was forbidden to marry between Jedis within the Jedi Order. On Tatooine, they had a son, named Dace Diath, who was one of the first Humans born on Tatooine. Dace Diath was also not surprisingly Force-sensitive, and his father and mother found it necessary to train him in the Jedi ways as well. Dace was quite competent during his lessons that both his parents taught him as he grew, though his parents did not instruct Dace in all the ways in the Jedi, particularly anti-attachments. Sidorna and Etlide Diath designated their son a Jedi Knight upon the start of his adulthood. However, as the eight settlements fell one-by-one after roughly twenty-six years, the settlers had to leave. Sidorna and Etlide Diath chose to leave Tatooine like everyone else, but surprisingly, Dace Diath chose to remain on Tatooine, being the only Human and Jedi on the planet. Despite repeated feeble coaxes from his parents to leave with them, Dace Diath was adamant on staying for this was a great way to isolate himself as a Jedi, continuing to learn the ways of the Force. Eventually, Dace’s parents agreed to let their son and only child stay. Jedi Dace Diath chose a home, which he fashioned himself from a small but deep cave at the western edge of the Jundland Wastes and which bordered the Western Dune Sea. The cave was so deep that it had hidden water, and Diath also collected dripping water from the cave's stalactites. Dace Diath also strengthened his skills with using the Force as he anticipated the positions of monsterflies and woodlice in the cave, and learned to dodge them in case if one came too close as Dace went deeper to the hidden water. For food, the Jedi Knight luckily found an isolated patch of hubba gourds (though involving some arduous rock-climbing to reach the shrubs), which were edible to Humans as well as to Jawas and Sandpeople. Dace Diath, with food and water, felt at peace with the very monotonous life on the desert planet. Over time, he continued to perfect the knowledge of the Force with immense meditation and continued to practice using the midichlorian-produced energy field. He also practiced the art of lightsaber-fighting, even though he never needed to use it. When he lived to a hundred years old and became very senile, by sheer luck, a small freighter (that a younger Jedi Master piloted and that several young Jedi Knights boarded) encountered Jedi Dace Diath. Immediately, the visitors were enthralled with the very elderly Jedi and looked up to him immensely. Dace Diath was very willing to share his knowledge with the younger Jedis, as he now found his successorship that he slowly grew to yearn. However, the younger Jedis did not want to stay on the desert planet of Tatooine, due to the harshness of the environment. Dace Diath, agreed to leave Tatooine with them, and so he did. All the visiting Jedis designated Dace a Jedi Master—a title that he deserved. Even during the hundred years where Jedi Dace Diath took residence on Tatooine, there were absolutely no encounters with Jawas or Sandpeople. The reason was because both species felt an uneasy presence in that part of the edge of the Jundland Wastes that bordered the Western Dune Sea, and thus never approached the area. Members of neither species never felt anyone, who was Force-sensitive before, and avoided Dace as a precaution. After Dace Diath left, there would be no Humans on Tatooine for a long time afterwards. However, Jawas started picking up on the Humans' written records that the Humans left behind in their waste. The intrigued Jawas then realized that they should have a written language too, and they started to formulate their own writing, using pictograms. It would take about roughly seven hundred fifty years for all Jawas to adopt writing, using their pictographic method. Sandpeople, however, never adopted writing and continued to convey and record by word of mouth only. 

* * *

**2000BBY**

Starting from the abandoned Coruscanti-Corellian settlements from more than two thousand years ago, Sandpeople in their raiding parties discovered many discarded metallic objects. Though much of these objects were wasted items, the Sandpeople found these objects very valuable. They salvaged numerous discarded metal objects and brought them to their villages. Soon, Sandpeople started learning to work with metals and learning how to forge them into objects of their own need. Over the next two thousand years to this time, other ships from the Core Worlds stumbled upon Tatooine by sheer accident, which resulted in crashes on the desert planet’s surface, whether they be freighters or pirate ships. Whenever a crash occurred, Sandperson tribes (as their entire communities) rode their banthas to crash sites, and immediately started claiming the site for themselves and quickly started salvaging anything metallic that had the potential for future usage. When one Sandperson tribe claimed a crashsite for themselves, they warded off other Sandperson tribes trying to do the same. Thus, crashsites became hotspots for all Sandpeople on Tatooine, whom at this time were all learning how to forge metals and use the newly created end-products. Sandpeople’s protective protruding eye tubes went from bone to metal. Head adornments for male Sandpeople, particularly the small head spikes, also became metallic, and they started adding more metal spikes to their cheek areas (called cheek spikes). Unlike the head spikes, the cheek spikes were larger and hollow, as hollow, rather than solid metal, was easier and quicker to forge; and they wanted hollow cheek spikes to allow more perspiration to escape. Though the mouth filters remained hardened-leather-based, the Sandpeople also started creating a nose filter out of metal that they implanted at the top of their mouth filters. This metallic part was the nose filter, in which the metal behind the bandages was cooler. This way, the Sandpeople breathed in even less hot air than before. The female Sandpeople also started forging their own metal objects for their own adornments. There were now forehead plates, which were quite thick; and they reflected light on the outside, and helped keep their heads cool on the insides. The women also soon experimented with full-face plates, which was quite the benefit, temperature-wise, even with their modest-sized visual openings. Then, Sandpeople women soon started adding metallic-jewelry-related adornments to their cloaks. The children had no metallic adornments, but that would change as they reached adulthood. Yet, there was a new forged weapon that the male Sandpeople started creating. It was the metallic Gaderiffii stick (gaffi stick). The metallic gaffi sticks had the same structure as the latest pre-metallic, structuring. On one side, there was a sharp point, surrounded by four metal blades, forming a cross, slightly behind the sharp point. On the other side, there was a thick bulb with another sharp point, protruding from the side. These metallic gaffi sticks were great. They were tough, so they would not break during hunting or sparring with others with the same sticks. The Sandpeople also used the bulb-side of their gaffi sticks as full-force clubs, with the bulb being impact-resistant as well. Indeed, the discovery of metal forging and the creating of metallic objects opened a new era for the Sandpeople. The Gaderiffii (gaffi) sticks, since they were reminiscent of the old four-tipped-cross spears, became universal and standardized among all Sandpeople on Tatooine over one century. It took two centuries for metallic head adornments to become fully popular and standardized among all Sandpeople as well. Jawas also started experimenting with metal forging as well, but they were more limited in this practice as Sandpeople denied Jawas access to metal from crashsites as well. So, Jawas focused more on salvaging fully functional tools, equipment and weaponry, and learning to use them well. Yet, Jawas learned to farm hubba shrubs and funnel flowers and deb-deb trees, and keep them sheltered from too much desert heat. Jawas, of course, had to keep their harvests well hidden from marauding Sandpeople, who took them immediately when they found them.

* * *

**700BBY**

The B’Omarr monks came to Tatooine and well-established themselves there. The B’Omarr were originally a group of Humans, who had established a very strict religious monastic order on the planet Teth, which included men and women. Their order took its name from its founder Gruuth Omarr, who originally called his monastic order, From Beginning to Enlightenment at 1200BBY. All of these monks of this order lived in a large, round-citadel monastery with a low, triple-layered conical roof, which they designed and constructed themselves and was of a style of their own choosing. The three layers to the roof had ventilation openings between the layers and had a giant air-circulation wheel to draw out old air from the monastery. The entrance comprised a large but movable double-door. After Omarr died, his high-monastic successors and closest followers renamed his monastic order, From Beginning to Enlightenment under the Rules of Omarr, as Omarr wrote many rules to his religious monastic order. Over two centuries on Teth, the name slowly contracted to the Order of B’Omarr, using the “B” from Beginning, and then finally to the B’Omarr Order. Also over the course of two centuries, members of other humanoid species applied to join the B’Omarr Order, whom the high monks always accepted for anyone who truly and purely desired to seek the path to enlightenment, and they were always welcome without exception. The Order soon expanded its membership to non-humanoids as the first Hutt, named Borgu the Hutt who was elderly, joined the monastery. Borgu as well as all Hutts were from the planet Nal Hutta and was 4m in body length as an adult, like most Hutts. A Hutt was slug/worm-like with a mound-like head with large reptilian eyes, a large amphibian mouth, oily skin, a large plump body, and two stubby but dexterous arms. A Hutt also had no legs but moved by using its thick and strong tail to undulate its body forward. At 1000BBY, the B’Omarr monks, as they were called, in which women were included in the moniker “monk” as well as men, numbered several thousand Humans and other humanoid and non-humanoid sentient species. They often kept in strict meditation in the largest chamber in their large monastery on Teth, and they devoted two hours in the early-morning, two hours in the middle-afternoon, and one hour in the middle of the night; and all B’Omarr monks participated simultaneously. Otherwise, it was time for farming, studying and restudying Omarr’s rules, sleeping, bathing, food preparation, and eating. There was very little time for recreation and socialization for the B’Omarr monks all sought enlightenment first and foremost. Only few B’Omarr monks were involved in medicine and surgery, should a monk be in need of their doctoral services. Other few B’Omarr monks were technicians, and maintained the monastic grounds and functioning equipment that they needed. The B’Omarr monks with their simplistic and devoted lifestyles were able to obtain longer lives, with more and more able to live past a hundred years of age. Teth had many mesas and mountains as well as forests and jungles as well as oceans for its environment, and there were many native animal species, but no native sentient beings. Hence, Teth was ripe for the picking for a peaceful planet for the B’Omarr Order in which its first Human monks came via freighters that they still had and used when necessary, albeit very rarely so. Many members, who came after the establishment of the order, just came to explore or survey the planet but then a fair percentage of these people were mesmerized by this religious monastic order, while being very willing to give up their previous lives to join this new one. Surprisingly, only three out of several thousand ever left the order within a few centuries. Despite the apparent ongoing success of the B’Omarr Order, there was one problem, however, and that was that very few achieved true enlightenment before reaching the end of their lives. When a B’Omarr monk reached enlightenment, he or she (almost always in his/her far elder years) reached permanent meditative state, never needing to move for almost the entire day, save for one small meal and water replenishment, and for the devotion of a short time to be a spiritual guide for newly recruited monks. These enlightened monks were, needless to say, well-respected and even revered. However, like all living beings, the enlightened monks passed on. Yet, for two particular enlightened monks, named Horis Zelkion (a Human man) and Serala Meol (a Human woman), both of whom were more than one hundred thirty years of age and about to pass away, were so revered that the several thousand B’Omarr monks wanted to experiment with continued life and enlightenment. Many wanted these two to keep living and be their spiritual guides. The surgeons of the monastery decided to experiment with a potentially new practice. For all the monks near their deaths and who wished to live in enlightenment or still keep on their paths to enlightenment, the surgeons could remove the brains from the near-death monks, and then preserve them in jars with ongoing nutrient replenishment, and then affix the jars to life support systems. Almost every B’Omarr monk was unanimous with this experimental decision. So, without their consent, the surgeons put the two revered enlightened monks in permanent stasis at a given night, and surgically removed their brains, and placed them in their own life-support systems. To the delight of the B’Omarr order, the experimental practice worked; and was even an unexpected bonus. Both monks, having only their brains, were able to communicate to the other monks telepathically, and be able to hear those who spoke to them. Both monks also welcomed the idea for this practice in order to guarantee the highest state of enlightenment because both of them now mentioned that food and other bodily needs were no longer needed. Several decades past, and Horis Zelkion and Serala Meol were still alive as fully enlightened, and were still ultimately happy to be so. For reasons not fully understood, the fully enlightened monks were not only able to hear and telepathically speak, but were able to see as well as if their brains still permitted all of these senses, even in this state. Thus, the B’Omarr monks in this state had the great possibility to live for centuries in full enlightenment, while keeping much of their awareness as well. Several more enlightened monks were happy to be a part of this new practice to full enlightenment, and after a couple of years, the remaining enlightened monks (still in their bodies) wrote a new rule to the B’Omarr order. All B’Omarr monks were to have their disembodied brains surgically removed from their bodies and preserved in a life-support system to achieve their full enlightenment when ready for it. At first, this only applied to monks in the early stages of enlightenment and near their deaths. However, the practice became opened to those who were either ailing miserably or seriously injured and wished to achieve full enlightenment without their bodily ills in the way. For the preserved brains, their life-support systems were stationary and placed on shelves within the newly established chamber in the monastery, where other B’Omarr monks could visit them and communicate with them. However, at 800BBY, fully enlightened B’Omarr monks requested a movable device for which their brains can be mounted, so that they can move about the monastery as if still in their original bodies. So, the B’Omarr Order’s technicians designed and constructed movable, mechanical-leg systems for their life-support systems, in which their brain jars would affix from underneath the support system with four legs around them for walking. The brains of the fully enlightened monks were placed underneath their life-support systems because it was easier for supplied nutrients could travel easily downward to the jars, which became round in shape. The mechanical-leg system also had a manipulator claw at the bottom of the jar that could reach the ground in case if a monk wanted to pick up or move something, even though they felt that they rarely needed to do this. Yet, the option was there. Also, the fully enlightened brains of the B’Omarr monks in these systems were able to telekinetically move the legs and the claw by themselves, making everything look so simple. Many fully enlightened monks went about the monastery to their pleasing, while monks, still in their bodies and not yet fully enlightened, always bowed in utter respect when walking by one of the order’s fully enlightened members. At 750BBY, the fully enlightened B’Omarr monks acquired movable mechanical-leg systems that had six legs to make it even easier to move. The mechanical-leg systems made the fully enlightened monks appear like spider-droids, but no one minded this appearance. Everything seemed perfect to last for more centuries without inhibition. However, spacefaring and technologically advanced Hutts from Nal Hutta began colonizing other nearby systems, and eventually reached Teth with Ziro the Hutt leading the invasion. The B’Omarr monks did not want to fight, so they put up white flags of surrender, and welcomed Ziro and his Hutt brethren colonizers to their monastery. The B’Omarr high monks (with Borgu the Hutt, who also became a high monk and a key negotiator) tried to explain their existence on Teth, even though the Hutts wanted to conquer it and add the planet to their control, since Teth was very near the Hutt Space in the galaxy. (The Hutt Space was a stellar void in the galaxy that bordered Nal Hutta, which the Hutts claimed as their own, and was perfect for hyperspace runs). So, the B’Omarr Order formulated a compromise, which was that the Hutts may rule the planet, but the B’Omarr Order may remain and live unhindered. The Hutts initially accepted, and things first appeared fine. However, the Hutts began building bases—one of which was near the B’Omarr monastery. Also, more ships started flying overhead, which resulted in more and more noise and distractions. In only a decade, Teth became a stopping point for many ships on many different paths and duties within the Hutt space. So, the B’Omarr monks held an all-inclusive meeting, which resulted in their need to evacuate Teth. Many resisted at first, but everyone eventually accepted the move. So, all monks loaded their freighters and set out to a new planet, and abandoned their monastery, which the Hutts later claimed and used. The B’Omarr monks, in search of a new home, chose the Outer Rim planet of Tatooine because with the exception of Jawas and Sandpeople, Tatooine was quite the empty planet that was often still and very quiet—just what the B’Omarr Order needed. So, they established themselves on this desert planet despite the initially uncomfortable high temperatures and lack of readily available water, and began constructing their new monastery just south of the Western Dune Sea. The monastery was to be very large and round, closely resembling their original monastery on Teth in terms of architecture, including a large but movable double-door for the entrance. The monastery was to also have thick walls for added shielding against the desert brightness and heat, and the monks constructed their monastery in the early-morning and in the late-evening only, while devoting middays for their strict meditation in the cool shades. No Jawas nor Sandpeople lived in this particular area of Tatooine, which only eased construction of the monastery. This new monastery on Tatooine had its lower floors for monks, who were not yet fully enlightened and still in their bodies, and had its higher floors for monks, who were fully enlightened. The lower floors had corridors and many rooms for private quarters, for learning, and for processions, as well as a grand chamber for mediation; and there was also a large storage chamber for their freighters and their other equipment, of which they seemed to need less and less now. The higher floors allowed the fully enlightened monks in their spider-droids to have a rest area, each in his/her own separate private quarters, and all these separate chambers encircled large rotundas for the upper floors. These rotundas of the higher floors also had open central areas to act as meeting areas for fully enlightened monks to interact amongst themselves; and of course, the fully enlightened monks were free to roam the lower floors with the other monks, still in their bodies, at their own pleasing. Furthermore, the monks who were not yet fully enlightened were free to go to the higher floors to converse with the fully enlightened monks (and had to do so in secluded, soundproof spaces upstairs, so not to disturb the other fully enlightened monks). After four long years of hard work, the new B’Omarr monastery was fully finished, and though Tatooine was hot and bright, the monastery kept all B’Omarr monks cool, comfortable and peaceful. The B’Omarr Monastery also had a triple-layered domed roof on top with ventilation openings between layers and with a giant air-circulation wheel, like that on Teth. Furthermore, though the B’Omarr monks brought their own water from Teth with them, by sheer luck, the monks started drilling into the ground; and they found new water—lots of it. Borgu the Hutt also achieved full enlightenment to his own decision and to the approval of the other fully enlightened monks, just after the completion of the monastery as well. With the B'Omarr Monastery's large size, there were some nice, cooler, shady areas outside the immense structure too; and worrts frequented the shades, hunting rockmites, sandflies and bandas at every opportunity. 

* * *

**500BBY**

With the near-inability to sustain themselves in Tatooine’s deserts, rontos were almost fully extinct. Rontos, even though both their floppy ears and their skins in general having the ability to dissipate heat in the desert environment, still required a lot of vegetation and water to sustain themselves. One surviving small colony of rontos on Tatooine was in the Jundland Wastes that had a lot of shady areas, very little but some plant growth, and a lot of mists at night. Some Jawas captured ronto calves from this colony and found that rontos, upon growing up, proved to be very tame and loyal to their Jawa captors, so long as the Jawas treated them kindly, which the Jawas did out of good intention. Jawas soon trained rontos to be their beasts of burden, carrying cargo for them; and many Jawas soon learned to ride rontos as well. Jawas, riding rontos, with the rontos pulling wagons became more visible now. Jawas kept their domesticated rontos in pens, and kept them well fed. Many Jawas also started breeding programs for rontos in the Jawarundiu region in the Eastern Dune Sea. Rontos soon became fully extinct the wild, and now all of the remaining rontos were fully domesticated. The same was to be said for jerbas. Like with rontos, Jawas found an isolated surviving jerba colony that descended from a herd that migrated from Jawarundiu to the Jundland Wastes. Jawas soon kept some jerbas in pens and started a breeding program for them as well. Their leathered hides were used for more clothes, and their milk (though not as good as the blue milk from banthas) was quite satisfying for nourishment as well. Jawas also continued to use jerba tail hairs for knitting new cloaks. Jawas also continued to extract the blue milk from their domesticated banthas, albeit few domesticated banthas, comparing to the numbers of domesticated rontos and jerbas, and very few comparing to the domesticated banthas of the Sandpeople.

* * *

**300BBY**

Though the Republic knew of Tatooine since 4200BBY, at this time the Republic decided to extend their political reach to many Outer Rim planets. The Republic only barely knew of what Tatooine really was. So, the government sent exploratory ships from Coruscant to the Tatoo system. To the Republic, Tatooine first appeared as a third sun of the Tatoo system, since the desert planet reflected a lot of sunlight to distant telescopes, until closer inspection revealed Tatooine to be the reputable all-desert planet with bright-reflecting, yellow sand as many earlier sources mentioned. Visiting Republican explorers first stumbled upon a Jawa community in the Eastern Dune Sea, and were able to communicate that they came in peace through mutually understandable sign language in the beginning. After learning some needed information of the planet from the Jawas, the Republican explorers used the Jawaese and Gaderiffii name for the planet as their official name for the planet as well. In fact, saying “Tatooine” seemed roll off the tongue easily. For the next Outer Rim, newly discovered planets, in which the native names sounded much like Tatooine, they received very similar names for the Republican charts. Such planets were Dantooine, Mantooine and Vactooine-a thriving mining world. All three worlds had vegetation, animal life, and oceans with a water cycle. Cartographers of the Republic soon started mapping Tatooine as well. Geologists of the Republic found a lot of embedded limestone as well as embedded sandstone on the planet. A prominent Republican explorer named Rald Jundland named the cluster of mesas, canyons and bluffs after himself, the Jundland Wastes, since the Jawas had not given this topological feature a name. Rald Jundland also named the awestriking natural arch within the Wastes as the Stone Needle, considering that the arch appeared a gigantic eye of a needle. The explorer also adopted the Basic translation of the Jawaese name for the mushroom-shaped standalone-rock mesa that was part of the northernmost area of the Jundland Wastes, between the Western and Northern Dune Seas. This was the Mushroom Mesa that the Jawas originally named in Jawaese and Rald Jundland accepted the Basic translation as the official name for the Republican maps as well. Rald Jundland also adopted the name B'Thazoshe Bridge for the Republican maps of Tatooine as the large natural bridge was so famous that Jawas heard of it too. Rald Jundland and his team of mapmakers and cartographers of the Republic also named the large Western Dune Sea and the Eastern Dune Sea and also the noticeably smaller Northern Dune Sea. Even though they knew that these “dune seas” were massive, sandy deserts and not bodies of water, they did certainly possess oceanic features, hence their names. Jawa folklore also mentioned of these dune seas as once true bodies of water, and the first Republican residents of Tatooine started becoming fascinated with this likely planetary past history. Rald Jundland also named the narrow, empty, hilly land, between the Western and Eastern Dune Seas that was globally opposite from the Jundland Wastes and the wide plateaus and plains of Tatooine as the Far Hills as he could not derive a better name. 

The few of those daring enough decided to found a new settlement on Tatooine. Why settle Tatooine was still mainly the lure of open space. The first fully self-sustaining settlement on Tatooine was Fort Tusken—a large-sized settlement—and it was located on a plain at the northernmost area of the Jundland Wastes and just east of the Western Dune Sea. Fort Tusken was also the Galactic Republic's first official settlement on Tatooine, in which citizens paid taxes to the government too. Fort Tusken comprised of several structures with the largest structure being the administrative center, along with a protective stone wall that surrounded the fort. Other structures were for livingquarters, recreation and for storage of their large cache of supplies that Tusken’s settlers brought with them. A total of twenty-five hundred Human settlers from Coruscant, comprising individuals and families with children, lived in Fort Tusken; and the settlers had several different trades. Some were trained soldiers, for instance, while others were cooks, schoolteachers, doctors, delivery people, technicians, and maintenance crewpeople to give some more examples. Water, not surprisingly, would be the most precious resource for any settlement on this planet and was very inaccessible. So this time, among Fort Tusken’s first settlers were also Tatooine’s first moisture farmers, who hydroponically grew many crops for the settlement; and they brought with them the first moisture vaporators and installed many of them within the fort’s grounds at first. These moisture vaporators (model GX-2 by Pretormin’s Environmental) were stationary towers that drew in water vapor from the atmosphere and condensed it into liquid water, which was then used for their own drinking water and for supplying water to their hydroponic gardens that produced the rich crops that the farmers harvested when ready. Moisture farmers kept the hydroponic gardens in a large chamber in the fort, which also had an electrostatic repeller that repelled blowing sands. The three-and-a-half-meter-tall moisture vaporators proved to be very important for the sustenance of the settlement. Each vaporator had four solar-powered chiller bars, which created condensation of water from the air, and which were very effective in doing so, even when the humidity was a low as 1.3%. However, with Tatooine’s average humidity of 5.4%, the moisture vaporators always drew enough water for Fort Tusken, year-round. Furthermore, the center spire of each moisture vaporator had a humidity sensor at the very top, which sent signals to the four side-placed chiller rods to act accordingly, by sending low-temperature to the condenser system towards the bottom of the main spire of the vaporator to generate condensed water from the humidity. The condensed water then went down to the very bottom of the center spire for a person to collect. A single moisture vaporator could produce an average amount of one-and-a-half liters of water per day. Each moisture vaporator also had a pressure relief valve to vent any steam pressure, should any build up in the vaporator. Also, each vaporator had a user-friendly operator’s console (affixed to the side, where an operator would enter programming commands in Basic or Bocce), and had a function monitor to allow one to view the progress of the next available, collectible water. Fort Tusken’s moisture farmers almost always let the vaporators operate day and night for (not surprisingly) extracting as much water as possible was the norm. However, some let their vaporators only operate at night, when the noticeably cooler or even colder temperatures made it much easier to collect condensed water, so that the moisture vaporators would have extended lives before having to replace them. The vaporators always did the best they could for their proper functionality. However, when Fort Tusken’s population grew to twenty-seven hundred, there were times when there was not enough collected water for the whole settlement. Thus, it did not take long for the moisture farmers to bring out more moisture vaporators from storage, and install them. The farmers spread the vaporators as much as possible from each other, so that they could independently draw a maximum amount of water without inhibition from “competing” vaporators; and the farmers now had to install the extra moisture vaporators outside the fort’s protective walls. Many Tusken settlers of Tatooine were awestruck at the notion that there was complex animal life on the desert planet, and often watched bantha herds traverse by. However, little did they know that there were many other animals that went extinct after Tatooine experienced the ultimate habitat loss from their new planet’s long-gone lush environment. 

Things were peaceful in Fort Tusken’s first decade, as the settlers and farmers learned how to live in and cope with Tatooine’s heat more and more. The Humans of Fort Tusken also measured Tatooinian years by seasons, even if not distinctive in terms of weather and climate. This season standard became the norm for the future of Tatooine's sentient beings, especially since crops were expected to grow more readily in certain seasons. Higher-ranking Jawa clan leaders started learning Basic to the point of being able to understand the Human-derived language. Needless to say, this language-learning facilitated trade between Fort Tusken and nearby Jawa clans. However, it also did not take too long for Sandpeople to start launching attacks on the settlement; and Sandpeople most certainly refused to learn Basic, and that was just to start. Fort Tusken’s inhabitants never provoked the Sandpeople and the settlers only wanted to live and work in peace among themselves; but nonetheless, the warlike native inhabitants, the Sandpeople, charged and ambushed settlers whenever the opportunity arose. They were patient to hide and wait for a settler to kill. The Sandpeople struck with their five-pointed gaffi sticks at unsuspecting victims with full force, which led to brutal deaths of settlers, while they yelled and chanted and held their sticks above their heads and danced in victory. No one could reason with the Sandpeople as the warrior inhabitants strictly believed that Tatooine and its water still only belonged to them. The Sandpeople often also made their presence known by clustering outside the fort, while raising their gaffi sticks above their heads with both of their hands, while yelling and roaring to intimidate the settlers before ducking out of sight. Fort Tusken’s governor, Zoce Bretek, first ordered his soldiers not to shoot any of them, except for sheer self-defense, in the hopes that the Sandpeople would realize that the settlers meant no harm. Yet within four months, the Sandpeople already brutally murdered a few dozen settlers, who went outside to maintain the external moisture vaporators (whether day or night) or who went outside for a temporary change of environment; and they wounded many more outside as some of the settlers managed to make it back to the fort’s confines before being killed. Every time, Sandpeople approached Fort Tusken, it was always for provocation and for nothing else. They would not be satisfied until Fort Tusken was no more. Enough was enough deaths, so Governor Bretek of Fort Tusken ordered the soldiers to use their blasters to repel Sandperson attacks, which led to a few deaths of Sandpeople with the rest, hastily retreating. Even though Tusken’s settlers started learning how to avoid Sandperson attacks by learning how not to put themselves in danger outside the walls, the Sandpeople also destroyed some farm equipment when left outside. They even fully damaged all the outside moisture vaporators during the nighttime, which resulted in a water shortage, needless to say. Sandpeople also ambushed and killed any Jawa trading party that tried to approach Fort Tusken. The Sandpeople were nothing but a destructive force to Fort Tusken’s settlers. So, the soldiers then started active patrols outside but near the fort with well-armed guards, whom Bretek ordered to shoot any Sandperson that came near, and these guards were very successful in repelling Sandperson attacks. The Sandpeople still continued to almost fearlessly roar with their gaffi sticks to attack the armed guards, particularly during the evenings. This resulted many of their own warriors killed before the survivors retreated. When the Sandpeople clustered and threatened, soldiers from behind the wall also shot at them. Yet, though the Sandperson attacks on Fort Tusken finally waned with the proper defenses, there were still the occasional raid on Fort Tusken, and sometimes Sandpeople ambushed and killed a settler or a soldier caught off guard, even if there was no action for up to a couple of months. The settlers nicknamed the Sandpeople, Tusken Raiders for it seemed that these warrior people only wanted to raid and destroy the settlement as if there was nothing else better for them. Fort Tusken was meant to be permanent, and may have been so, but after a few more years, the reduction of operable moisture vaporators, as well as the ongoing threat to the lives of the settlers proved too much for the settlement to survive. So, Governor Bretek, to the dismay of much of the remaining twenty-four hundred fifty settlers, ordered Fort Tusken to be abandoned. Ashamed, Zoce Bretek left Tatooine with a few hundred settlers of Fort Tusken, who were willing to accompany him. 

However, the rest of Tusken’s settlers took as much of their supplies and functioning equipment with them and went eastward to another sand-and-gravel-covered plain to found two of the very first moisture farm communities, and which was still north of the Jundland Wastes. The settlers could not take everything, however, and that was where the Sandpeople started raiding the now-abandoned Fort Tusken. These new “Tusken Raiders” started taking anything that they could find of value (like tools, functioning equipment, canisters, furniture, etc.), and brought them back to their village. It did not take long for Fort Tusken to become an empty shell in the midst of the sands. Many Sandpeople also acquired a forgotten cache of a few hundred blaster rifles from their raiding of Fort Tusken. Blaster rifles soon became a well-demanded and hotly traded commodity between Sandpeople villages. Sadly, however, in addition to ambushing with their gaffi sticks, armed Sandpeople would also shoot travelers or even moisture farmers outside their farmsteads, maintaining their vaporators, when they could. Sandpeople preferred blaster rifles than pistols because they could hold the rifles above their heads with two hands, while chanting and dancing in victory. 

As for the moisture farmstead communities, these two communities comprised many farmstead settlements of Human settlers, who were from Fort Tusken, in the beginning. These farmstead settlements were below-ground dwellings, in which the deeper sand acted as a natural insulator from the immense heat during the day and from the chilly air during the night. These two below-ground settlements had open-air courtyards with two moisture vaporators in the center for each. Two moisture vaporators sounded like too few at first, but every moisture farm was meant for a single family or for a family-less individual; and two moisture vaporators were almost always enough. Moisture farmsteads became successful in a short time, and soon, these farmsteads became more complex in their structuring. Moisture farmsteads also earned greater reputations on Tatooine, and soon others started establishing farmsteads in more communities, having more commodities. After a few more decades, a moisture farmstead included a hydroponic farm, livingquarters for settlers, a rest area for droids, storage areas, a disposal area, and the garage (for storing at least one low-ground airspeeder as well as for having extra storage space). These areas filled separate, underground chambers that surrounded the courtyard in a farmstead. Underground tunnels connected every chamber as well. All moisture farmsteads also now had at least one above-ground cistern for harvested water to be used for the tap. After more than half a century, almost every new moisture farm settlement had this basic layout now. To enter and exit the courtyards of moisture farmsteads only required a basic staircase to the surface each. However, these moisture farm settlements’ staircases soon led to a styled dome-shaped entry/exit area, made of pourstone. These would be known as entrance domes, which slowly gained popularity among the farmers over time. If the farmers could afford them, one or two maintenance droids also worked all day, keeping the farmstead clean, moving waste to the proper disposal area, and ensuring the proper functionality of moisture vaporators and other equipment. Many older droids were inexpensive and could still perform their duties within the farmsteads. Upon hearing of continued successes of the established moisture farms on Tatooine, more and more Human settlers from the Core Worlds decided to try their hand at the open space of Tatooine for settlement. With more settlements of moisture farms, moisture vaporators became a regularly demanded and purchased commodity. The vaporators often cost 7500 credits in the beginning, and many settlement-farmer families still invested in two vaporators each. Small settlements used vaporators for their own need, but then some new larger and successful settlements invested in more moisture vaporators and used the them not just for their own need but also for making a profit with extra water to sell. Like with the case of Fort Tusken, moisture farmers of these larger farmsteads soon had to install extra moisture vaporators at the surface, around their steads. Of course, moisture farmers still had to regularly maintain these moisture vaporators and thus “venture” to the surface to do this; but soon they also installed security systems on the vaporators to dissuade the Sandpeople, which worked well. These security systems had loud alarms and bright flashing lights, which almost always frightened off Sandpeople; and moisture-farmer families also installed soundproof doors in their bedrooms, which worked well at night. Very few moisture vaporators were lost to Sandpeople raids as a result now. 

Though different moisture farm settlements were not very near each other (in fact, a neighboring moisture farm was almost always too far away to see from one’s own on the horizon), settlements did form well-knit communities, starting with the first two from Fort Tusken’s eastward migrants. The moisture farm communities soon grew to five. From the start, moisture farmers within communities always helped each other when it came to repairing machinery (including vaporators), droid maintenance, teaching the tricks of moisture farming to newcomers, sharing emergency water and/or medical supplies, and preparing crops for consumption should a seasonal harvest in a hydroponic chamber delightfully bring a high growth in a farm. There were no roadways on Tatooine at all. So, many moisture farmers well needed and well used low-ground airspeeders, popularly known as landspeeders, which used repulsor coils to keep the landspeeders on a cushion of air, about half a meter above the ground. Landspeeders also used air-turbine engines to provide a good and fast thrust. Moisture farmers used landspeeders for quick inspection tours of their above-ground layouts of their moisture vaporators, for searching for lost droids, for heading to other farmsteads within one’s community, for heading to other communities that had needed resources that could not be obtained otherwise, and for heading to these other communities to sell some scarcely obtained surplus crops. The early available models for landspeeders included the SoroSuub XP-10, the Mobquet-A, and the Ubrickkian 1000 and all carried the price of about 3500 credits each. If any moisture farmer could not afford a landspeeder and needed to travel quickly, he/she could afford a one-person speederbike, which often cost only 450 credits—a low price due to their high availability on the market. Eventually, with the reliability and mass production of moisture vaporators, their prices dropped to 1000 credits by 250BBY, even with the GX-4 being released into the market. The lower prices of moisture vaporators continued to encourage even more newcomers to settle on Tatooine. Two more moisture farm communities were founded slightly southeast of the successful five communities on the plains. Two more moisture farm communities were founded on the sand-and-gravel-covered plateaus, just south of the Jundland Wastes as well. After a full century, since Fort Tusken, moisture farms were an established success to the point of no longer worrying about possible failures. Jawas started visiting moisture farm communities, often to trade goods. At first, Human settlers were still hesitant to approach them except for those who recognized them at Fort Tusken, but it was not long at all when Humans realized that Jawas were also sentient and were quite friendly, curious, and trade-minded. Some of the Human settlers and some Jawas started learning each other’s words to establish better communication between the two species. It was Human moisture farmers who first domesticated the dewback, and moisture farmers used them entirely for riding, if they could not afford a good landspeeder. Dewbacks, surprisingly, were tamable, should they be captured and domesticated from a young age as well. Eopies, often tameable due to their herbivorous and social behavior, also became popular beasts of burden among many moisture farmers for transport. Domesticated eopies were also loyal to their moisture farmers, while all farmers treated their eopies well too. Farmers also gave elderly eopies to their children as pets, which proved popular among the farm children. Furthermore, Tatooine’s Human residents, who were proud of their ability to live well on the desert planet of Tatooine, started adopting new last names for themselves. These last names included words and/or sounds from their previous surnames, but a popular scheme in the renaming method was to make the last name sound occupational. This occupational-sounding naming method helped the Human residents feel that they have a real sense of purpose on the desert planet of Tatooine. The first to do this were the husband-and-wife, vaporator-repair-shop owners, named Queloy and Bodey Haybolter. Their original surname was Haybue from their Corellian family, who came to Tatooine in the recent past. This newly popular surname adoption took about one and a half centuries to fully standardize on Tatooine; and by then, a large number of Human Tatooinians used this surnaming method, though definitely not all.

* * *

**200BBY**

With the increasing success of moisture farming and farmstead settlements on Tatooine, news continued to reach more worlds. Many still thought that Tatooine was a desert wasteland and did not bother “checking it out”. However, there were the few but definitely a fair number that wanted to jump on the opportunity to live and strive on the planet Tatooine with its open space. More and more settlers came, and by 200BBY, Tatooine’s Human population rose to seven thousand. One particular moisture farming community in the narrow area between the Western Dune Sea and the Northern Dune Sea became population-dense and closely knit with numerous GX-4 moisture vaporators in operation. Soon, moisture farming was not on everyone’s mind in this closely knit community (particularly from those who could not make it in moisture farming, comparing to others, but possessed other talents), and many wanted to practice different trades. Thus, some moisture farmers, who were more skilled in crafting, building, repairing, medicine, and teaching started opening their own businesses within the closely knit moisture-farm community. These people, who possessed other skills, actually and thankfully found their livelihoods on Tatooine. Urbanization was coming, and Tatooine was going to have cities. Over time, Jawas would learn to adapt to cities with some taking residence there, whereas Sandpeople would avoid cities. 

The earliest city on Tatooine was Mos Espa, which in fact came from this aforementioned closely knit moisture farm community with many others who were skilled in different trades. Mos Espa meant “Espa’s Valley” as _mos_ was a Jawaese word for “valley”, and Espa was named after a very wealthy moisture farmer, named Paron Espa, who founded the community at 190BBY when his family from Coruscant and other family friends with their own families as well as unrelated opportunists (totaling fifteen hundred settlers) decided to try their hand on Tatooine simultaneously. Paron Espa’s settlers’ living grounds shifted from a condensed moisture-farm community to the first municipality. Thus, there were not just moisture farms in this early Tatooinian city, but there were also many shops, stores, market stalls, warehouses, and non-rural residences. Most of the architecture of Mos Espa consisted of rough, thick pourstone walls with stone infills, and these pourstone walls with stone infills provided good insulation from the immense daytime heat. Mos Espa also used bio-conversion power generators, which converted wastes from sentient beings, animals, and other organic wastes to air-conditioning for the daytime, heating for the nighttime, and for lighting during the nighttime. Moreover, the municipality used solar power for energy. All other upcoming Tatooinian municipalities would follow these routes for power sources. Mos Espa and all other municipalities soon also had to look out for sandstorms, and quickly shut their doors and windows and tarp their market stalls, when one came through. Many from Mos Espa used eopies for immediate traveling and transport as well, and now the first Tatooinian roads were establishing themselves. 

Several Republican politicians from Coruscant, Corellia and Duro had another urbanization plan in mind for Tatooine. They wanted to design the layout of a newly planned city, as well as construct buildings and roads, since the Galactic Republic had a nice administrative center in mind for the desert planet. The Republic would then advertise this newly upcoming urban center to many potential settlers from many Core Worlds, and encourage them to migrate there and establish livelihood and business as well as government in this city. The Republican politicians agreed upon a name for this administrative city—Bestine, which was named after Kemtis Bestine, a Human from Corellia who was the first to publicly call upon the idea for Republican-sponsored Outer Rim exploration at 1977BBY. Once the urban planners designed the city layout, a large team of architects quickly moved in to design the structures—all under the well payment of the Republic. After only two years, construction companies of the Republic quickly brought as much equipment as they could to build this city on Tatooine. The construction companies did not need to bring construction materials because there was more than enough limestone on the planet that they needed to build Bestine. Many larger buildings were made from durable limestone and constructed them in the hewn-stone fashion. Smaller structures, reserved for residences and small businesses were made from pourstone with stone infills. Upon its completion, which took only one more year, Bestine was quite impressive—structures, streets and all. There was also very good traffic control in the city. The first appointed Republican governor of Tatooine, to be stationed in the new city of Bestine, was a Human and also from Alderaan named Sanp Hooliti. The new Republican governor moved himself and his family to Bestine, and began life and work there. Governor Hooliti would later become instrumental in organizing a government with common laws on Tatooine, and he earned a good reputation among Tatooine's residents, including many Jawas. Governor Hooliti also would later become instrumental in cementing Bestine as Tatooine's capital city within the Galactic Republic. The city of Bestine on Tatooine also most certainly attracted migrants from many Core Worlds to live and work there. The livelihood outweighed the immense desert heat now, and businesses in Bestine were thriving. In six months, Bestine’s population went from zero to thirty thousand. Furthermore, many Republican guards served the city as the police force in Bestine. The Republican police officers at Bestine were very competent; and the police patrolled Bestine very well and protected the inhabitants from all villainy. This very safe city attracted even more migrants to Bestine (from within Tatooine as well as from the outside alike), and after six more months, the city’s population grew to forty-five thousand as the city established dealerships, service centers, theaters, designated shopping areas, and even casinos as well. Many traveling Jedis also stayed in Bestine, regardless of length of time, which only further made Bestine safe for all. Bestine also became the Jawas’ favorite city as well. Bestine would be the only Tatooinian city to have building codes too. By 150BBY, Bestine had a population of 75,000. Also by 100BBY, Bestine opened up Tatooine’s first museum, the Bestine Museum. One of the wealthiest families on Tatooine, the Hemknotter family (who was also very scientifically and artistically inclined) founded the museum and became the owners and the highest executives. One also would expect Bestine to have a spaceport, but surprisingly, Governor Hooliti allowed another developing city to have Tatooine’s only spaceport (for certain reasons). 

One of the easternmost quickly developing cities from the Jundland Wastes was Mos Eisley. Mos Eisley was named after a very wealthy colonists turned moisture farmers, named Gundoro and Ulaana Eisley, who founded the community at 200BBY. The husband and wife Gundoro and Ulaana Eisley with their family and three hundred colonists accidentally crash-landed their colony ship, the _Dowager Queen_ , on the Tatooinian plateaus but no one was hurt. The ship also crashed to the east of the Jundland Wastes, and a canyon was near it. The Eisleys and the colonists had a lot of supplies that were needed to establish a close-knit moisture farming community, which was initially shaped like a wheel with a central hub that acted as trading and shop area and with many roads radiating from the hub. The community had a wide street that bisected the wheel-shaped layout, which they named Straight Street. This close-knit community provided a safety-in-numbers assurance to other moisture farmers and later-arriving colonists who also started taking residence, and sure enough, the wheel-shaped community became a wheel-shaped town with a municipal government. Mos Eisley in only fifty years became a major urban center as well with the crashed and partially raised _Dowager Queen_ acting as a landmark and a historic site. Gundoro and Ulaana Eisley also named the nearby canyon Sluuce Canyon after their oldest daughter, Sluuce Eisley, who became the next mayor of the town after her father. Like Bestine, Mos Eisley had many pourstone-and-infilled-stone-based and limestone-based structures, but Mos Eisley lacked the taller buildings that were common on Tatooine’s capital. Nonetheless, Mos Eisley had many business centers, involving casinos, stores, service centers, market stalls, and dealerships—much like Bestine. However, Mos Eisley had one kind of structure that Bestine lacked, which was the arena. At 150BBY, Mos Eisley had a population of 60,000 inhabitants, and also became Tatooine’s only spaceport city that happened to have a total of one hundred seventeen large and small docking bays for visiting ships; and arrivals and departures became commonplace. Only few docking bays, such as Docking Bay 94, were large enough to park large-sized freighters; and many docking bays were either privately owned, corporately owned, or owned by the municipal government. Mos Eisley soon commissioned a spaceport traffic control center to help monitor ships, arriving and departing the city’s numerous docking bays. Mos Eisley became Tatooine’s spaceport city instead of Bestine because Bestine’s authorities allowed Mos Eisley to be that as the residents of Bestine knew that those who would regularly come to Tatooine via starship were definitely not all well-intentioned. As a result, petty crimes started increasing in Mos Eisley. It also did not take long for Bestine to earn its reputation of being Tatooine’s safest large city, and was noticeably safer than Mos Eisley. 

Even though Mos Eisley was Tatooine’s only spaceport city, it was surely a bustling one, earning its reputation for its immense daily activities over a span of two hundred years. However, when it came to being a safe city, Mos Eisley was very noticeably low on the list, and by 100BBY, the city became the least safe on all of Tatooine. In terms of opulence, Mos Eisley indeed fared poorly, comparing to spaceport cities of the Core Worlds. Even though, the city was thriving enough to garner attention from business investors and commercial pilots, Mos Eisley proved to be a rough town with poor and unpredictable neighborhoods. Smugglers and black marketers also dwelled in the city regularly too. Illegal arms, stolen/embezzled goods, and various black-market products also frequently underwent trade in this city. Mos Eisley had one wealthy community at the city’s northern boundary, which also included the city’s administrative center, but that was it in terms of a fully safe zone for this area (including the administrative center) was gated and well-guarded. With the blatantly rough areas of Mos Eisley, which made up much of the city, violence also took place, sometimes with murders or destruction of personal property. Despite Mos Eisley having an administrative center, the city’s law was not well-coordinated; and the police force (comprising of Humans, some Jawas, and some other humanoids who lived on Tatooine) was not very large. Mos Eisley also had a customs bureau, but it was poorly staffed and the few staff members often were afraid to upset anyone bringing illegal and/or black-market goods into town. Also, very few moisture farmers brought their surplus crops to Mos Eisley for sale in the city’s market stalls, and Mos Eisley was a last resort for the farmers’ market, when Bestine and Anchorhead had too many moisture farmers already there, selling their products in the cities’ own market stalls. In terms of more-honest business, Mos Eisley soon had one large landspeeder dealership, called Spaceport Speeders, which bought and sold new and preowned speeders of many kinds at 100BBY. A wealthy male Human from Corellia named Daf Noxe, who also had a lot of knowledge of landspeeders and their functionality, founded the dealership. With newer models coming out, this landspeeder dealership had good busy hours. In the city, there were also stalls with hitches, where visitors that rode banthas, rontos and dewbacks could leave their beasts of burden to rest for no fee, so that they could temporarily carry out their businesses. These stalls also had feed stations for the beasts, but owners had to pay a fee to the municipality for the food. 

Anchorhead was a small town on Tatooine’s plains near the Western Dune Sea, with a fair number of stone-infilled pourstone structures. Anchorhead was also a nexus of the several moisture farming communities nearby. Anchorhead was founded by accident when a deep well of water was discovered by a moisture farmer (originally from Coruscant), named Cailea Thoum. She lived on her moisture farmstead with her early-adolescent son Sanek and young daughter Tanilieva. The Thoums were originally trying to dig up a hole in the ground for a place to dispose waste, but then Cailea and her children discovered the very deep freshwater well with enough water to last a century. Immediately, many other moisture farmers clustered around Cailea Thoum’s well, and paid her money for liters of water. Cailea Thoum's moisture farmstead became well-productive in crop output and soon all other moisture farmsteads nearby were well-productive. Even Jawas, riding rontos that pulled wagons, visited often and offered Thoum well-needed commodity goods (including limestone bricks, lighting systems, labor and maintenance droids, deb-debs, and funnel melons) for some of the water. Cailea Thoum welcomed the growing community of moisture farmers and Jawa traders for they also provided some protection from Sandpeople, whom she knew would go ballistic over the deep well of water that they believed belonged to them only. Thoum's two children also worked hard to keep the supply of water to meet the ongoing demand. Again, urbanization was coming to this community as well as more people with different skills were establishing businesses, surrounding Cailea Thoum’s water well. As this immediate community of Tatooine elected to establish a municipality around the water well, they also elected Cailea Thoum as the first mayor. Thoum named the municipality Anchorhead because this was the first municipality on Tatooine, which started from a very popular source of water that “anchored” numerous others to live near it. Anchorhead became the first Tatooinian municipality that was not dependent on moisture vaporators as well. Thoum ruled the new city of Anchorhead benevolently, and commerce flourished during her tenure as mayor. She was also able to draw people from Mos Espa and Mos Eisley as well as urban-loving Jawas to Anchorhead, which helped build the population. Cailea Thoum as mayor also became famous for organizing an annual municipal-wide gaming event period that lasted two weeks, in which residents of her city formed teams and competed against each other in various sporting events in Anchorhead. Cailea Thoum herself presented the award medals to the winners. Over the next century, the water well eventually was used up and dried up. However, the municipality remained well-intact, and Anchorhead still bustled now with the help of moisture vaporators. Later in the future, there was the Tosche Station within the small municipality of Anchorhead, owned by Merl Tosche, which was an all-in-one stop. The Tosche Station was a service center for anything needing repair or an upgrade, was a shop for various small devices and spare parts, was a water distribution center, had a recharge station for the repulsor coils for landspeeders, and also was a popular hangout for the station also had a lounge with a bar and a gameroom.

* * *

**100BBY**

Mining colonies came to Tatooine to search for ores, in which they could prospect and then smelt the hopefully valuable metals for usage and sales. The miners were also Humans from Coruscant, and the very large and profiting Coruscanti Mining Company sponsored all of these mining colonies. Encountered Jawas warned the miners not to get too excited because the Jawas never discovered that many natural resources themselves, but the mining company believed what they wanted to believe. The Coruscanti miners brought with them these large, inverted-rough-trapezoidal, steam-powered land vehicles. These land vehicles had thick-armor plates for their exterior frame for each, and were each propelled with four double-sets of caterpillar tracks; and there were one hundred and fifty of these vehicles in all. These 32m-longX12m-wideX20m-high, ore-carrying, land vehicles were popularly known as sandcrawlers and they served several main purposes, which explained their large sizes. One of these purposes was to contain conveyor systems, each with their own row of hydraulically powered, rock and ore crushers. Another purpose was to contain smelting shops, filled with many furnaces per vehicle that helped extract the metals from the rock. Another purpose was to provide transport for the miners along with their newly gained ores and smelted metals. Another purpose was to provide livingquarters for the miners, and each miner had his/her own sleeping quarters, interconnected by a network of halls, which also connected to dining rooms within a sandcrawler. These large vehicles also had many storage chambers and refrigeration chambers. Sandcrawlers were in a sense all-in-one moving mining grounds and facilities, combined with mining towns. Each sandcrawler had a control cabin at the top-front portion of the vehicle with several windows at the front and a few to the side. The mining head and sandcrawler captain was at the helm with many higher-ranking supervisors in the cabin. Underneath the control cabin and on the front side was a large, 12m-long ore-loading ramp that can draw downward and rest on the ground (for loading large-sized mined ores) and that can retract shut again. A sandcrawler also had a magnetic suction tube at the bottom, between the caterpillar tracks—good for bringing in modest-sized ores. Also, each sandcrawler had its well-protected power plant at the rear side, along with many access hatches, loading docks and inspection panels on both sides of the sandcrawler. Furthermore, each sandcrawler had a large ventilation system at the top, and several exhaust vents at the bottom sides. Finally, each sandcrawler had a main access hatch at each side, towards the front, and also had a retractable entrance stairway at the bottom, between the caterpillar tracks. This was the main entrance/exit for the miners in the sandcrawler mining town. Also, all sandcrawlers had a large searchlight each for spotting and for night travel. These sandcrawlers were large enough to frighten away Sandpeople and even the occasionally appearing krayt dragon. At first, these mining expeditions found many fish fossils, which already started convincing these visitors that Tatooine was a very different planet in the past. However, the miners were not paleontologists, so they paid little attention to any discovered fossils. However, visiting staff members from the Bestine Museum were readily requesting any found fossils, which the miners were happy to give them. In the hopes of successfully mining and smelting many valuable metals, the Coruscanti Mining Company and their mining colonies hoped to create new cities with many more inhabitants on Tatooine. However, Tatooine’s metals were either lowly valuable or too scarce and were as such year after year. To the dismay of the mining company and the miners, after their painstaking and feeble efforts to keep a business case for the mining operations, the mining endeavor had to shut down. The Coruscanti Mining Company recalled the mining colonists, whom left the planet; but they were willing to sell some of the sandcrawlers to Jawas, who wanted them. Some mining colonists practically left behind their sandcrawlers too for other Jawas to quickly claim as their own. Many miners left for the swampy planet, called Melnea’s World, also in the Outer Rim. The Coruscanti Mining Company found more success there. 

Yet, the curious, entrepreneurial, and knowledge-hungry Jawas, as they quickly claimed the large land vehicles as their own, it was not long till an individual sandcrawler became Jawa clan-owned with the clan leader being the head. The sandcrawlers became fortress-homes for the Jawa clans and they taught themselves how to drive these massive ore-carrying vehicles as well as repair them when needing to do so. To the surprise of many inhabitants of Tatooine, Jawas fully integrated the sandcrawlers as part of their livelihoods. Often, more than four hundred Jawas lived and worked in these massive land vehicles, comprising of an entire clan as well as other Jawas who were not in powerful clans, and who were willing to work for the sandcrawler-owning clan. There were many small spaces for the sleeping quarters and the dining rooms for everyone; and there were many storage areas too for their needs. The Jawa clan head always drove the sandcrawler, with higher-ranking clan members with him in the control cabin. Jawas very much needed to find water wells, so that these sandcrawlers could operate. Thankfully, Jawas were able to find a very large water well that was indeed able to provide enough water to power their sandcrawlers. The large water well, which thus far the Jawas only knew, was named the Pika Oasis after the Jawa clan leader Pika, who discovered the well within the plateaus that several rock formations surrounded, hence its secretive location. These sandcrawlers took the Jawas to the most remove and desolate areas of the desert planet in search of minerals and any kind of machinery or discarded droids that they could salvage. Long-worn and -abandoned mining equipment was claimed by the moisture farmers as well as by Jawas. The Jawas routinely traded with moisture farmers with their sandcrawlers making many stops within communities. Jawas also routinely traded between themselves, should one sandcrawler pass by another within the vast deserts. There was also one newly established Tatooinian municipality, that the wealthiest moisture farmer family in the close-knit community—the Wayfars—established. In addition to the founding family's name for the new city, Wayfar was conveniently named because it was the southernmost urban center of Tatooine and far away from the others. This municipality almost failed but thankfully, this town was also within the Jawa sandcrawlers’ circuits; and so Jawas played a significant role in keeping the town going, since the Human townspeople were regularly able to obtain needed goods from the Jawas through trading. Jawa clans drove their sandcrawlers in circuits on Tatooine’s landscape that often lasted six-to-nine months to complete. The Jawas still called their former isolated continent Jawarundiu their home, despite now being designated as a region of the vast Eastern Dune Sea. On Jawarundiu, Jawas built mountain fortresses out of limestone, where they stayed for three-to-six months to take time for rest, leisure, swap meets, storytelling, and festivities, before going back to work. These mountain fortress were called as such because these structures were tall, wide, and conical in shape; and the Jawas only allowed dim-lighting inside because within their fortresses were the only places on Tatooine, where Jawas would remove their hooded cloaks for a while. Furthermore, the Jawaese mountain fortresses had many jerba farms, in which the jerbas were raised for their thick tail fur, that Jawas often sheared for knitting new cloaks. These mountain fortresses had many ronto pens as well, since rontos were still popular for transport, despite the presence of sandcrawlers. Some mountain fortresses also had enclosures where Jawas kept several species of a certain kind of animal alive and well-fed, despite being already extinct in the wild for several millennia now. Very few mountain fortresses had domesticated banthas, in which the Jawas extracted the delicious and nutritious blue milk for sale. Many residents of Tatooine, whether living in cities or moisture farms, were willing to pay good money for blue milk; and before a Jawa sandcrawler left the clan's respective mountain fortress as the clan started its new cycle of work, the Jawas often stocked the sandcrawler with refrigerated blue milk for their awaiting customers. Each Jawa clan also had its own mountain fortress. Also, with the successful establishments of Anchorhead, Bestine, Mos Eisley, Mos Espa and Wayfar, the establishments of other Tatooinian municipalities were going to follow. 

Outside of mining and municipalities, the isolated B’Omarr Monastery was going to have an invader. There was a bandit that was renowned for his grand theft on many planets in the Republic. He was also very much a wanted criminal. His name was Paeb Alkhara from the planet Corellia, and he was the leader of roughly two thousand bandits. Pursued by the authoritative forces of the Republic on numerous systems, even where Alkhara and his private army of bandits never struck yet, Alkhara sought to establish a new hidden base of operations on an Outer Rim planet. Indeed, Tatooine was perfect due its desolate nature. Alkhara and his bandit army first heavily repulsed a Sandperson attack with no casualties to Alkhara's forces, while they were finding a base of operations. Alkhara then discovered the B’Omarr Monastery, and quickly knew that this would be the perfect hideout. So, Alkhara and his army blasted through the double-doors of the citadel with their laser cannons, raised their blaster rifles and pistols, and then started killing B’Omarr monks, whether enlightened monks in spider-droids or not-yet-enlightened monks. Alkhara expected an immense resistance, but after a single minute, all the B’Omarr monks stopped in their tracks, doing nothing. Monks still in their bodies raised their hands, and enlightened monks flashed dim white lights from their support systems, and there was no resistance at all. Alkhara ordered a ceasefire, and started wondering just who or what were these beings. Alkhara with his first several hundred bandits started entering slowly through the main hall, exchanging glances with the B’Omarr monks. The bandits never lowered their blasters, while some started feeling disgusted with the disembodied brains of the enlightened monks in their jars. Alkhara finally announced in Basic who he was and this was his army of bandits and that they were going to take over this structure. He was starting to expect resistance now, but there was still nothing. Then, ten of the highest non-enlightened monks, accompanied by a few enlightened monks in their spider-droids, approached Alkhara calmly and diplomatically, and then more surprisingly greeted him. The B’Omarr monks introduced themselves also in Basic, what their order was, that this was their monastery, and that they meant no harm to anyone. Alkhara exchanged glances with them as some of his own highest-ranking subordinate bandits were doing the same, and announced in a non-hostile manner who they were and that they needed a hideout. The B’Omarr monks invited Alkhara’s army to stay in their monastery and conduct their operations, so long as they remain on the lower levels while reserving the higher levels for the enlightened monks, and as long as they allow the monks to roam as they please on the lower levels. Alkhara quickly discussed this offer with his highest-ranking subordinates. The bandit army realized that this monastery was much larger than they needed, even for two thousand bandits, and that there were many chambers and rooms to live and conduct their crimes without any hindrances and annoyances. Alkhara approached the B’Omarr monks and accepted their offer, but the B’Omarr monks also asked Alkhara to bury the monks (including disembodied brains) that they killed in the B’Omarr cemetery just outside the monastery. Alkhara agreed and ordered this to take place. Needless to say, many bandits did everything that they could to avoid contact with the brains before burying them in the cemetery. After this agreement and duty, the coexistence began almost immediately; and Alkhara claimed the grand audience chamber as his personal office. 

Alkhara and his bandits robbed transport ships in space within the Outer Rim, and sometimes landed on planets to ambush businesses and banking systems and conduct more grand theft. All bandits of Alkhara fled with their robbed goods to the B’Omarr Monastery, which also became known as Alkhara’s Hideout. Alkhara with his highest-ranking subordinates conducted businesses of their own, involving the robbed goods, in order to obtain even more money. Alkhara even had more ambitions, including ruling all of Tatooine and then forming a multi-system Empire in the Outer Rim with more planets in the galactic region under his control. He needed to gain more influence first. So, he started recruiting more bandits to his army, which increased to twenty-five hundred after five years. These new bandits were already established in their practice, and these new bandits already heard of Paeb Alkhara and were happy to work for him. Alkhara then commissioned several construction companies on other Outer Rim worlds to construct for him an adjacent tower that was taller than the monastery, but much narrower, but also with thick walls. This tower served both as an observation area to look out for Republican ships, and as a communication zone to keep in touch with active bandits in his army around the Domelake Galaxy. Alkhara also commissioned the construction of several smaller towers around the monastery and the main tower as defensive posts with many armed bandits, being stationed there. Of course, Alkhara disguised his criminal hideout to the construction companies, while posing his organization as a galactic-level postal service. These extra structures took five years to complete. Alkhara also commissioned the construction of a very thick and heavy, raising-and-lowering door, which replaced the double-doors for the entrance of the main citadel. Then, Alkhara commissioned the digging of lower large and small chambers, including a large chamber under his office. This large chamber was divided by a large, raising and lowering, solid gate; and it had a large external door outside of the monastery and below the surface that was like a giant basement door. The large chamber under his office served as his main storage areas with the door acting as a protective barrier for at least some of his robbed goods, should his hideout be discovered and infiltrated. Other large chambers were for his freighters, enabling his army to no longer only hide their freighters in isolated pockets of the Jundland Wastes. He reserved another large chamber for his personal freighter. Small chambers served as extra secret storage areas and as prison cells, in case if any traitors should make him/herself known. All of these lower chambers emitted a lot of moisture regularly, and so the lower chambers became dank. Furthermore, the Alkhara and his bandit army as well as the B’Omarr monks equally shared the abundant water in the monastery’s/hideout’s well. Thirty-four years after Alkhara took over the B’Omarr Monastery and made it his hideout and base of operations, a Republican army finally found Alkhara—now the most wanted criminal in the Galactic Republic. A battle ensued; but the thick walls of the structures and the small size of the Republican army allowed Alkhara’s criminal army to repel the Republican attack with very minimal casualties and damages on both sides. However, Alkhara knew that his operations base was highly numbered because there was no doubt that the Republic would very soon send a colossal army to destroy the criminal organization; and they would very likely destroy all the structures in the process. They could not conceal themselves in the B’Omarr Monastery anymore; and already several hundred bandits started fleeing Alkhara’s army with many fleeing to Mos Eisley to start new businesses, dealing in black-market goods. Other bandits started sneaking off in some of Alkhara’s freighters without Alkhara’s consent. After only a week, only a few hundred of Alkhara’s most loyal bandits remained with him. Alkhara finally announced that the criminal organization had to flee, and even close down. He fled Tatooine with everyone in his personal transport ship that was stored in the grand hangar. However, Republican ships, lying in wait, immediately captured Paeb Alkhara. Alkhara and his most loyal bandits immediately found themselves incarcerated. The Republican army then entered the B’Omarr Monastery, encountering all of the B’Omarr monks, who remained there. The Republic also learned of the monastic order from enlightened monks and non-enlightened monks, and then decided to let the monks peacefully live in the monastery on Tatooine that was originally theirs. The B’Omarr monks never bothered to dwell in the extra structures and storage chambers that Alkhara commissioned, and stayed in the areas of the main citadel, just as before. Republican forces eventually captured many hundreds more fleeing bandits in Mos Eisley and in others of Alkhara’s freighters. Very few of Alkhara’s bandits in Mos Eisley were able to escape notice.

* * *

**80BBY**

One day, eighty years later, there would be a moisture farmboy, named Luke Skywalker, mentioning to a protocol droid (in which the droid type was humanoid-shaped), named C-3PO, and an astromech droid (in which the droid was cylindrical shaped and dome-topped with two wheel-powered legs), named R2-D2, that if there was a bright center of the Universe, they would be on the planet farthest from it. Actually, Tatooine as a planet gained a whole lot of fame within the Domelake Galaxy, and Tatooine became one of the most famous in the Outer Rim. Tatooine now rather happily found itself both in the midst of the Triellus Trade Route, a hyperspace run that had a connection to the Hutt Space (which the planet Nal Hutta dominated), and in the midst of the Corellian Run, another hyperspace run that had a path to the Core Worlds. Tatooine was not populous enough to merit an orbital station, but Mos Eisley was enough of a spaceport to allow good traffic flow to and from the planet, regardless of the city’s criminal activities. Tatooine’s major imports were food, extra water, medicine, wood, technology and machinery (ranging from more moisture vaporators to cooling systems to weaponry), chemicals, and products from the black market, while its major exports were minerals (albeit not that many), livestock (of which were rather plentiful—the most popular being domestic banthas), the blue milk of banthas, durable clothing made from bantha hide (like Jackets and boots), the precious dragon pearls of krayt dragons, scrap metal for recycling, and more products from the black market. Merchants and commercial pilots frequented Tatooine and used the planet as a stopover, and smugglers did so as well. However, Sandpeople often ambushed or even shot any non-Sandperson in the Jundland Wastes or on the plains or the plateaus at whim. Sometimes, bandits robbed moisture farmers at night. 

Bestine remained the most influential city, and the capital of all of Tatooine, and had a population of just over 150,000. Bestine still had more wealthy and safe neighborhoods than any other Tatooinian city. Humans, Duros and some urban-loving Jawas were happy to reside there. The Bestine Museum’s main attractions had been the large collection of artistic sandglass sculptures as well as the mount of the only fully complete skeleton of a krayt dragon, which occupied a major hall of the museum. The museum had a room, full of dragon pearls, which were kept in bright lighting in dark backgrounds. The Bestine Museum also had many animal and planet fossils on display, which further proved that Tatooine was quite a different planet in the distant past. Fossils on display included the long-extinct lumnols of the Far Hills, in which the scientist named the species after the Jawaese word for small-hoof. A decent number of scientists lived on Tatooine and they all worked in the Bestine Museum. At first, there were ten Humans and two elderly Jawas, who worked in the Museum’s research department. The two elderly Jawas (who were Uloh and Vekka Xol, and were a longtime husband and wife) were very helpful because they were the only source in providing any historical records of Tatooine as their folk stories were passed down through Jawaese generations over the ages. Jawa folklore also told the story of a passing planet, which was intriguing to the scientists, needless to say. Perhaps there really was a near-miss between Tatooine and this rogue planet in the distant past as the Jawas claimed. The scientists of the Bestine Museum also cataloged and classified Tatooine's overall scarce but definitely present living flora and fauna. Baimul Vimcaster, was the highest-ranking scientist in the Museum, and his grandest theory was indeed that Tatooine was once ocean-and-vegetation-covered, so much that the only surface sand was the sand on the beaches long ago. This theory soon became fact as the discovery of more and more fish fossils and Jawa folklore complied with this theory to the point of proof. The second-highest-ranking scientist, named Kleema Matmower, theorized that Tatooine underwent a megadisaster that permanently altered Tatooine to the point of no return. Many scientists believed her theory and it had a lot of plausibility. Some other scientists were paleontologists, studying the planet’s fossils, and cataloging Tatooine’s increasingly discovered extinct species. Others at the Museum were geologists and meteorologists who researched Tatooine’s nightly mists and occasional frosts in the hopes of discovering as-yet-unknown more sources of any more remaining water from the once-ocean-covered planet. 

There was also a famed explorer, named Farnoth Beggar, who mapped out the Jundland Wastes with the help of two Jawa guides. He preferred to traverse the canyon floors on foot, so that he could get the full glimpse of the canyon walls. The Jawas assured him the rockslides were overall rare, and Farnoth Beggar never encountered nor even heard any for the while. However, as he was about to explore one more canyon while traversing the canyon floor, a sudden rockslide of large sandstone boulders came tumbling down extremely quickly. Beggar and his two Jawa guides tried to flee, but the boulders crushed them, killing them instantly. Many Humans and Jawas of Tatooine gave them a grand funeral. Then, they named the canyon, where they were killed, after the famed explorer—Beggar’s Canyon. Another explorer named another canyon in the Jundland Wastes, which took his name—Bildor’s Canyon after a Coruscanti migrant named Deely Bildor, who was the first Human to fully traverse the canyon on foot. 

It was also about this time, when Jawas began expanding their business practices, which involved dealing with more droids. Though Jawas bought, sold, and traded maintenance droids earlier, like with the times during the establishment of Anchorhead, Jawas now generally made droids one of their "flagship products" now. Jawas stunned and captured stray droids and then sold them to generate greater profitability. Many Jawas also became experts in droid repair, and they also repaired or upgraded them if needed, and then prepared them for sale as well. Jawas used ion blasters to immobilize their droid targets without damaging them, so they could capture them easily. Though Jawas almost always borrowed technology from other species that had visited Tatooine, the Jawas designed and built their ion blasters themselves. Many Jawas also picked up non-functioning, discarded droids in municipal junkpiles, and restored them back to functionality. Jawas also started capturing droids that wandered away from their owners in both cities and moisture farms as Jawas, though never resorted to theft, adopted a “finders-keepers” norm. Over a couple of decades, many Jawas learned of the many different droids and how they functioned, which was very beneficial to their business as well.

* * *

**75BBY**

The first Rodians came to Tatooine, and Rodians were green-skinned, large-blue-eyed, large-eared, insectivore-snouted humanoids with two soft extra-sensory receptors each on top of their heads. Many Rodians fled the immense troubles, occurring on their home planet of Rodia in the Tyrius system. Many left for the planets Ooo-temiuk, Utaruun and Tatooine—all within the Outer Rim as well. The Rodians, who came to Tatooine, mostly became tradespeople within the cities with only few becoming moisture farmers. Many Rodians also sought residence in Bestine as well, and some possessed some good talents. Two Rodians, a husband-wife team, who were prominent scientists on Rodia named Borido and Haroda, were well-welcomed and hired in the Bestine Museum. One middle-aged male Rodian named Goudo, who was adept in political science, obtained a high government office in Bestine as well. A middle-aged female Rodian named Xymma, founded a very successful business in Bestine, selling effective healing ointments that were made from purely natural ingredients. However, there were also Rodians that were smugglers and others that were agents for criminal lords, who came to live on Tatooine as well. Some Rodians became involved in black-market dealing as well. Overall, the Rodian population on Tatooine grew to large numbers in only a few years. 

The scientists in the Bestine Museum also tried to theorize how the Stone Needle of the Jundland Wastes formulated. At first, the scientists proposed that a much earlier civilization carved up the immense rock formation. However, the scientists soon agreed on the theory that that the Stone Needle was in fact a natural geological erosion. Borido and Haroda also brought forth a similar rock formation that naturally eroded on Rodia as well for additional hard evidence for the theory.

Also womp rats became abundant near urban areas, roaming the outskirts of Tatooine’s cities in the daytime and even roaming the streets at night. Womp rats started feeding on refuse, and many started carrying diseases and became urban vermin. Womp rats even colonized urban landfills. Tatooine’s kreetles also frequented the urban centers, feasting on garbage and other refuse. If someone moved garbage, many kreetles would start fleeing their hiding spot, startling the person to the point of backing away quickly until all the kreetles had gone somewhere else. Bestine had the least pestilence with very few kreetles and womp rats, since Tatooine's capital was also big into sanitation. Surprisingly, cemaths did not frequent the Tatooinian municipalities as the scientists of the Bestine Museum realized that the small rodents preferred the Jundland Wastes because of the shady cover and because of the present mists that provided the rodents some drinkable water on a regular basis.

* * *

**65BBY**

The Hutts started making a new major presence on Tatooine. Long after Borgu the Hutt, who became an enlightened B’Omarr monk (and was still living as such now), the new Hutt presence started with two very wealthy and criminal-minded Hutts, who had much more influence than anyone else on Tatooine, even more influence than the Republican government. One was Jabba the Hutt, and the other was Gardulla the Hutt. Both were born and were from the planet Nal Hutta, and both were already several centuries old before coming to Tatooine, via the Triellus Trade Route, to press their influences. Both Jabba and Gardulla the Hutt practiced unruly business, including slavery and slave-trading, gunrunning (illegal shipping of arms), smuggling, gambling, buying/selling/trading of black-market goods, and high extortion of those who were in their debts. These two Hutts were both partners in the same business, and both saw Tatooine as a perfect place for establishing their criminal empire and for hiding smuggled goods within the crossroads of hyperspace runs. Both Hutts first established themselves in Mos Espa, where they lived in a grand house that externally appeared as one structure, but was actually two houses as both Hutts kept their own private quarters with a dividing wall in between. However, it was not long until Jabba the Hutt gained more and more influence over his partner Gardulla the Hutt as Jabba started overperforming his partner in all of their business practices. Gardulla, even if he did not want it, was becoming more and more of Jabba’s subordinate, as Jabba became the sole Hutt that had the influence on Tatooine. Jabba the Hutt also practiced honest business, and did so not only as a source of extra profits, but also to conceal his many more dishonest business practices. Jabba the Hutt invested in properties in Mos Espa, and had a major share in the newly constructed Mos Espa Arena, of which Jabba invested a lot. He also opened a casino in Tatooine’s first city, which rolled in thousands and thousands more of credits to the Hutt overlord. Jabba the Hutt also purchased real estate in Mos Eisley, which also generated more profit for him as he rented his properties. Jabba also purchased a stone-infilled pourstone house for himself there as well, when he needed to conduct business in Mos Eisley for an extended period of time, even though Mos Espa was his first home on Tatooine. Jabba the Hutt, who always seemed to have monetary luck on his side, also employed an army of aides, workers, servants, and soldiers. These henchpeople were from any species from any world. For instance, Jabba the Hutt hired many mercenaries from the planet Gamorr—the homeworld of the Gamorreans—as a large portion of his soldiers and guards. Gamorreans, were big, heavy, strong, olive-green-skinned humanoids with porcine faces with protruding mandibular canine and incisor tusks and with two horns on the head. Female Gamorreans ran businesses and farmed on Gamorr, while male Gamorreans trained to fight in battles, preferably with melee weapons. Jabba the Hutt also employed many Weequays—rugged humanoids from another desert planet, named Sriluur—as among his soldiers. Since Jabba paid all of those in his employ well, these people in his employ most definitely worked for Jabba diligently. Jabba also had many unpaid slaves, working for him as well, even though the Galactic Republic outlawed slavery. Of course, Jabba the Hutt gained a lot of fame on Tatooine; and everyone on Tatooine knew of Jabba the Hutt. The Republican governor of the desert planet, a Human named Subol Vaalj, wound up not having enough resources and personnel to keep Jabba in Hutt in check. Subol Vaalj felt the strong need to keep the Republican government as the highest authority, but he soon became hesitant to upset Jabba the Hutt and kept his own police forces at bay from him. Jabba was also immune to Jedi mind tricks, and even visiting Jedis were hesitant to approach the Hutt crimelord. 

* * *

**45BBY**

Jabba the Hutt, with all the money that he had from his honest and dishonest business practices, had proven both to be wicked and sadistic and to show his power-hungry, criminal-minded, and well-corrupted sides almost all the time for he was a vile gangster, and was now one of the most notorious in the Domelake Galaxy. The money always rolled in to Jabba with no exceptions, and his wealth only grew more and more. Jabba regularly bribed Republican soldiers and police officers, whom the new Human governor of Tatooine, Jalina Yonteg, sent to monitor Jabba’s daily actions. Governor Jalina Yonteg worked hard to reestablish the Republic as the highest influence on Tatooine, but like her predecessor, she was not able to do so. Bribes were just pocket change to Jabba too. Not only did Jabba practice bribery, his crafty ways to hide all of his black-market, illegal and smuggled goods were effective as he purchased warehouses in Anchorhead and Wayfar for this purpose. Jabba the Hutt now no longer wanted to live in houses. He felt that he deserved a grand palace for himself, and one that would be isolated on Tatooine, and well-outside of any municipality. That way, the palace would greatly manifest Jabba’s grand importance in Tatooine’s affairs. Furthermore, Jabba the Hutt began considering the near-future establishment of a powerful, political empire in the Outer Rim and in the Hutt Space with himself as the emperor, needless to say. 

Jabba the Hutt was just about to commission the building of this kind of palace, when one of his aides, who was a Gran (a humanoid, who had three eyes on extended appendages and a goat-like head from the planet Kinyen) named Tnee-Yees, informed Jabba of the isolated B’Omarr Monastery. Tnee-Yees was an adviser to Jabba, and lived within the Hutt’s entourage with his wife Gral-Yees and their young son and daughter, Ree-Yees and Alota-Yees. After seeing external pictures, Jabba immediately and excitedly ordered that he would live and establish himself there without question. When Jabba the Hutt and all of his entourage approached the monastery, he sent all of his soldiers. They saw the thick and heavy door at the entrance, but then by sheer luck, a B'Omarr monk raised the door to dispose of garbage. Taking sheer advantage, Jabba's soldiers ran through the entrance, and then there was nothing, not even a single blaster shot. At first, Jabba grew impatient that he saw or heard no action, but then the soldiers walked out casually, signaling Jabba to enter the B’Omarr Monastery. Jabba soon realized that who lived in the monastery were the B’Omarr monks, who lived in peace and sought enlightenment. Again, there was no resistance from the monks as if the monks knew that some takeover of their monastery was going to happen again. Jabba only grew more excited, since his new palace was already there and “waiting for him”, and ordered everyone to establish him in his new home. The first things that Jabba the Hutt noticed was that the B’Omarr Monastery was well insulated from Tatooine’s heat, and it had a well-filled water well within the confines. Perfect. It only took a couple of weeks until Jabba and his entourage embedded themselves there. As with Alkhara, the B'Omarr monks started negotiations with Jabba the Hutt. 

Once, Jabba fully established himself in his new palace, which he simply renamed Jabba’s Palace, he commissioned the modifications of the main monastic chamber. The monastic chamber, once belonging to the bandit leader Paeb Alkhara, became Jabba’s main throne room with a raised dais for himself and a grand audience chamber in front of his dais. Part of the monastic chamber was also modified to create a bandstand for Jabba’s entertainment. A monastic display alcove to the right of Jabba’s dais, and something that Alkhara never used, became Jabba’s own display alcove for various valuables. Of course, many other rooms and the kitchen, that were once meant for the B’Omarr monks and for Alkhara’s bandits, became used for Jabba’s needs. Many lower private rooms for the monks and then temporarily for the bandits became suites for Jabba’s soldiers and henchpeople. Jabba soon learned that the B’Omarr Monastery had another occupying force of Paeb Alkhara and his bandits earlier, which explained why the B’Omarr Monastery also the qualities of a well-protected fortress. However, this only furthered Jabba’s happiness for claiming and using the monastery for himself and his needs. Jabba also equipped the massive entrance door (along with other lesser-known doors to the palace) with implanted gatewatcher droids for added security. As for the B’Omarr monks themselves, Jabba allowed them to live and roam the upper levels of his palace as they had been doing so, since he did not need all that extra space. Jabba, however, ensured that his soldiers could access the top ventilation areas of the citadel so they could act as lookouts. Some B’Omarr monks still roamed the lower levels, where his entourage encountered them. Though many of Jabba’s henchpeople found the disembodied brains of the enlightened monks in jars gruesome, Jabba himself in fact enjoyed the rather gruesome sight and enforced that all B’Omarr monks were to have free movement in his palace for this reason only. Furthermore, not only did Jabba order the execution of his captured opponents, he started ordering the imprisonment of those, who were not able to pay off their debts to him, in the many dungeons in the lower levels of his palace. Everything was still working for Jabba the Hutt, and Jabba always preferred speaking in his native Huttese, prompting many of his closest aides to learn and know the language as well as Basic. Jabba the Hutt also loved live music, and he always had a band, who also lived with and regularly performed for him at the palace. Jabba hired the best band that he could find, and all band members really had to keep Jabba entertained or face disposal, which Jabba never hesitated to do before searching for a new band. 

Jabba the Hutt once had a run for his money, when two Sithlords made their way through the palace corridors, while effortlessly making their way past Jabba’s soldiers and guards. These two Sithlords did not possess a whole lot of power, comparing to other Sithlords; and their powers and abilities were to the equivalent of those of Jedi Padawans. Nonetheless, these two Sithlords, utilizing the Dark Side of the Force, were quite formidable. First, they used the Force to activate the entrance door to rise. Those who patrolled Jabba’s palace, fell hopelessly afraid of the Sithlords as these dark-cloaked Force-sensitive people gave them warning Force-chokeholds. The Sithlords released the invisible grips, when Jabba’s soldiers and guards raised their hands in surrender and allowed the two to proceed to the throne room. Anyone, who even had a few seconds in the Sith-initiated Force-chokeholds, only wanted to stay far away from the Sithlords as possible now. The Sithlords were of the blue-skinned, red-eyed, near-Human, humanoid Chiss species from the planet Csilla. One Sithlord was a man named Darth Profugus and the other Sithlord was a woman named Darth Perfida. The two Sithlords confidently entered Jabba the Hutt’s throne room to a startled and angered Jabba on his dais. Darths Profugus and Perfida requested a moment of his time alone. Jabba the Hutt realized that even he could not just have his guards arrest them, just like that, and obliged. The Sithlords demanded that Jabba the Hutt leave Tatooine as the two Sithlords planned to use the desert planet for their purposes without Jedi, Republican or Huttese interferences. The two also drew their red-bladed lightsabers. Jabba, though knew of the power of the Jedis and the Sithlords, had too much pride. He then went to a laugh, and ordered the Sithlords to leave his palace immediately. However, both Sithlords looked at each other emotionlessly, and nodded to each other, and then faced Jabba again. They both gave Jabba the Force-chokehold. Despite the Hutt’s massive size, even Jabba was choking with his tongue out, rocking on his dais, and struggling immensely for air. The Sithlords repeated their demand, but then twenty of Jabba’s guards and soldiers burst into the room, each with their blasters ready. Even some the Gamorrean guards had blasters, this time. The Sithlords, though felt this “rescue” coming, they were not prepared to deal with twenty of them, rushing out on many sides. Darths Profugus and Perfida released their chokeholds and drew their lightsabers, which deflected many laserbolts. The two Sithlords also acrobatically jumped around the throne room, dodging more laserbolts, while killing a henchperson at every chance. This took place all around a panicked Jabba the Hutt on his dais, who yelped commands to his entourage to save him, while still rocking on his dais in panic. The two Sithlords reduced the soldier and guard force down to four individuals, but then thirty more soldiers and guards rushed out with their blasters ready. The Sithlords continued to fight them and take them out one by one, but soon Darths Profugus and Perfida started to realize that they were outnumbered, and then decided, while fighting Jabba’s henchpeople that they should just kill Jabba the Hutt on the spot. However, laserbolts met both of the Sithlords, which made them fall to the ground with their lightsabers released. Jabba yelled for his henchpeople to shoot both of them more and more until the Sithlords were undoubtedly dead. By sheer luck, not a single laserbolt nor a swing from a lightsaber met Jabba himself the whole time.

When some calmness returned to Jabba the Hutt and to the surviving guards and soldiers (which numbered fifteen), Jabba ordered them to remove their dark cloaks and take their lightsabers, and then put them in full view at his display alcove. Then, Jabba ordered his surviving guards and soldiers to dispose of the bodies of the Sith as well as those of his fallen, and then ordered them to return to the throne room when done with that task. When all fifteen returned, Jabba then in a very rare humble manner thanked them all for saving him and specifically complimented his Gamorrean guards, Jantugg, Ihmtagg, and Tibtegg, for using laser blasters instead of their preferred melee weapons. Jabba then rewarded the fifteen soldiers and guards with ten thousand credits each and a full week off of their duties. After that, even though many of Jabba’s entourage had their own private quarters, Jabba then enforced that many guards, soldiers, workers, and even aides were to sleep every night in the throne room. This would, needless to say, be for protection and for emergency response. Jabba’s entourage would rotate members to sleep in the throne room. However, from now on, Jabba always wanted some of his entourage to accompany him at night, which made him sleep better. Jabba the Hutt and all of his entourage also always went on extra alert whenever a Sithlord or a Jedi was going to be in their midst.

* * *

**40BBY**

Watto from the planet Toydaria came to Tatooine after being a soldier, who suffered an injury on his homeworld. All Toydarians like Watto were small-sized, sentient non-humanoids, who had plumb bellies, flexible trunklike noses, and disproportionately small wings. Yet, Toydarians were inexplicably were able to fly nonetheless, albeit only able to keep themselves hovering off the ground for a given time. Toydarians were also immune to Jedi mind powers. When Watto’s injury healed, he decided that he needed a new life elsewhere, and chose Tatooine because it was a slowly but steadily growing planet in terms of population. Watto wanted to be a businessperson, and he felt that Tatooine was perfect for this endeavor because there was still plenty of room for economic growth on the desert planet. Though Watto would be an honest businessperson, he was also quite the risky gambler. He founded a business on Mos Espa as a dealer of spare parts, and owned his own shop in Mos Espa’s business district, which had easy road access. Watto’s business found a good customer base, which kept his livelihood going well. However, that did not stop him from spending at least some significant portions of his profits for betting at podraces as well as cardplaying against Hutts, including Jabba against whom he even won some games albeit very few. Yet, Watto was not a compulsive gambler, but gambling became Watto’s side-job; and like all gamblers (even experienced ones), he won some and lost some, but he always surveyed the scene, where he would not put himself in a gambling-related situation where he would easily lose. Yet, in one lucky game, Watto not only won money, he won a Human slave from Gardulla the Hutt. The slave was a Human woman named Shmi Skywalker. Shmi Skywalker was originally from the poor Skywalker moisture farmstead from Tatooine. Shmi’s four grandparents originally came from Coruscant. Unfortunately, both of her parents were captured by pirates when she was a young girl, and Shmi would never see them or hear of them again. Shmi became homeless on the now-defunct Skywalker farmstead, and she had no siblings. However, the adjacent Sheernighter farmstead cared for her until she was old enough to live on her own. Yet, when she was able to do so, she spent most of her young-adult life impoverished, as she worked for poorly demanded jobs in the nearest city of Mos Espa, before her eventual enslavement by Gardulla the Hutt, who randomly abducted her on Tatooine. Watto in this lucky game won Shmi in a gambling competition between himself and Gardulla the Hutt as Watto needed a slave for his shop. Even Shmi’s clothes were of rather poor quality for almost all of her life, thus far. Now as Watto’s slave, Shmi did maintenance, including the cleaning of his shop, and also did repair work and refurbishing of machinery for her master. One year before, however, Shmi mysteriously became pregnant, even without a husband or lover. Utterly unbeknownst to Shmi, Darth Plagueis, a Muun and Sithlord from the planet Muunilinst (and with his Human apprentice Sheev Palpatine (Darth Sidious) closely observing) used the Dark Side of the Force to create a new child in the womb of Shmi Skywalker in his attempt to experiment with creating new Sithlords. Darth Plagueis was not even in the vicinity of Shmi Skywalker when he performed this experiment. Muuns were tall and very thin humanoids with narrow heads, and how Plagueis selected Shmi Skywalker was entirely random, but he deliberately chose someone from an Outer Rim planet, which would have been out of the way of most Jedis. Shmi then gave birth to a son on Tatooine at a couple of months after becoming Watto’s new slave. Shmi named her son Anakin Skywalker after her own grandfather, who founded the now-defunct Skywalker moisture farmstead. Anakin Skywalker was born as a Human as he carried all physical aspects of his mother as well as of any other Human. However, Anakin was not a parthenogenetic offspring of Shmi, since Darth Plagueis had his Human apprentice play a major hand in using the Dark Side of the force to create Anakin Skywalker. Shmi Skywalker, who was softspoken and very caring, loved her son very much, and put his well-being above hers. Working as Watto’s slave, Shmi gave Anakin a secure home within Watto’s slavequarters in Mos Espa. Watto even gave Shmi extra time to nurse her baby until he was fully weaned. Soon, Shmi could tell that her son had some kind of special power as he was a toddler, yet she did feel intimidated by this because she also felt that Anakin had the great potential to be a good person too. Shmi also schooled Anakin as much as she could, so that the young boy would develop properly as she watched him grow from toddlerhood to childhood. Anakin as a very young child was too young to work for Watto at first, but of course, it would not be long till Watto would put him to work as Anakin became Watto’s second slave. Anakin started doing light repair work at age four, which would begin his aptitude in machinery. Anakin Skywalker, like his mother, also worked hard but did his best to keep a positive attitude.

Jawas had also developed an improvement of their own design to their sandcrawlers. They installed mild suspended laserbar activators, of which their laserbars' photons were cyclic, like lightsabers, but involved significantly less photons and were dimmer and less dense than a laserbolt from a blaster or the blade from a lightsaber. These juxtaposed, mild, suspended laserbars activated vertically and did so when a droid ventured too far away from its storage area in a sandcrawler and too close to the activators; and then switched off when nothing was too close anymore. So, these mild laserbars acted as barriers within the corridors within sandcrawlers; and like lightsabers, these mild, suspended laserbars hummed. Yet, as being mild, if one touched a suspended laserbar, it would be painful but not deadly or damaging either to organic tissues or to inorganic droid parts, unless if one attempted to force him/her/itself though the mild, cyclic laserbars, which thankfully (for all the reasons) never happened. 

Jabba the Hutt also discovered the mature sarlacc in the midst of the Western Dune Sea. Immediately, Jabba started using this sarlacc as an execution site for his captured enemies. In this year, he held a major celebration on behalf of feeding his first ten captured enemies to the sarlacc, in which he and his whole entourage gathered together to witness from his private sail barge that he had just purchased. He named the particular area, where the mature female sarlacc lived, the Pit of Carkoon, with _carkoon_ as a Huttese word for “ultimate punishment”. That particular name certainly fit with how sarlaccs consumed their prey, including those whom Jabba executed there. Jabba’s sail barge by Ubrickkian Industries, which he named the _Khetanna_ , was a 100m-long private, luxurious sail barge, in which repulsor coils allowed the barge to ride on a cushion of air at about 10m above the ground. One main engine provided the thrust, and two large sails allowed the barge to glide through the air smoothly. The barge was very aerodynamic and could move up to 100kph. The barge could carry up to five hundred passengers and there were several kitchens, banquet rooms and lounges with the largest lounge for Jabba himself, of course. There were sleeping chambers with the best one specifically reserved for Jabba (again, of course), and there was a small office space on the barge as well. Jabba the Hutt loved using his sail barge when he could, and he loved to fly over the Western and Eastern Dune Seas. He almost always brought his entire entourage with him on the barge including his band to provide a lot of entertainment on his trips. The barge did have armaments, in case of an attack. However, Jabba saw no threat, every time he flew, even when he was going to execute someone at the Pit of Carkoon. Jabba was certainly enjoying his strong influence on Tatooine. Furthermore, Jabba the Hutt had his own outerspace yacht, the _Star Jewel_ (also by Ubrickkian Industries), which he used to travel to other planets in different systems or to travel to Nal Hutta, when he so needed. The _Star Jewel_ also had many comforts and luxuries, a good array of armaments, along with a hyperdrive system (of course), and the ship had its own tractor beam for capturing smaller ships. Jabba the Hutt enjoyed capturing smaller transports to rob the goods (when no Imperial vessels were around) and capturing enemies who tried to flee him in smaller ships. Jabba kept the _Star Jewel_ and the _Khetanna_ in the largest hangar bay in an overland cavern just off of the main citadel within the Palace. In the same hangar bay of the same overland cavern of the palace, Jabba the Hutt also kept his transport ship, the _Rimrunner_. 

* * *

**32BBY**

Jabba still regularly participated in buying/selling/trading in the black market, smuggling, slave and slave-trading, high extortion, gunrunning, and gambling, though at the same time he still practiced honest business as a mask to his other practices. Jabba the Hutt also became the head of the Hutt Grand Council, which was one of the largest criminal empires in the Domelake Galaxy. Jabba used this title as an early step towards his dream political empire that he kept close in his mind. Gardulla the Hutt now became Jabba’s representative on Nal Hutta as Jabba continued to remain and conduct all of his businesses on Tatooine because he loved living in his grand, insulating palace and also because in his subconscious, the desolate, desert planet matched his personality quite well. In Jabba’s Palace, Jabba still had many aides, workers, soldiers and slaves around him. In addition to bands, Jabba took a strong likening to dancers, whom performed for him as well. All of Jabba’s dancers were female of any humanoid species, which was his personal preference, since Jabba adored the rhythmic movements of female humanoids and since Hutts were physically unsuited for the same kind of movements. With all of his money, he could afford to lavishly spend at times, and thus he recruited the most reputable dancers as well as bands in the Domelake Galaxy. To provide more examples of one of Jabba's honest businesses, Jabba recently purchased a flat sandy land from the Republican government of Tatooine, which was once a freshwater lake that drained into what was once the Northern Sea. Jabba named it the Hutt Flats, and there were many fossils of the once-common freshwater fishes, which were the boolks and the jaria. Jabba's sent some of his workers to become skilled in excavating and to recover fossils of these fish. Jabba the Hutt then sold many of these fossils to the Bestine Museum and to other natural history museums in the Galactic Republic, including those of Coruscant, Corellia and Duro. Jabba the Hutt also now owned several restaurants and hotels in Bestine and Mos Espa, which he operated in honest fashions. 

The Trade Federation was a wealthy and colossal interstellar-shipping corporation and political zone in the Domelake Galaxy. The Trade Federation was under the governorship of the Neimoidians—red-eyed, reptilian-humanoids from the planet Neimoidia—and they also had their own military force, particularly with their super-colossal ring-shaped battleships and their immense army of battle droids. Nute Gunray was the Trade Federation's Neimoidian leader, though he had a very cautious personality. The Trade Federation had their own representation in the Republic, but Darth Sidious coaxed the greedy Neimoidians of the Federation to surround and force the planet Naboo to surrender to the Federation, so that the Federation could occupy it and obtain more resources from the planet. Naboo’s highest official, Queen Padmé Amidala, refused to surrender and as a result, the Trade Federation blockaded the planet in the attempt to capture Amidala. The Sithlord’s alter-ego, Senator Sheev Palpatine of Naboo bureaucratically brought forth this incident to the Republic as a sign of high political instability, which led to the well-meaning Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, Finis Valorum, having to resign. The Republic then immediately elected Senator Palpatine as the next Supreme Chancellor to fill the power vacuum. With the Trade Federation still pressing Naboo, Queen Amidala had to flee on her Naboo Royal Starship with her closest aides and two Jedis (both originally from Alderaan but raised on Coruscant), who were there to help protect her. The very risky escape attempt through the blockade led to the royal starship undergoing damage to its hyperdrive system, which prevented an easier escape. The Trade Federation almost fully destroyed Amidala’s ship had it not been for one astromech droid to make some emergency necessary repairs outside the ship, enabling the ship to remain intact well enough to complete their escape. The astromech droid, the only droid in this emergency repair mission to survive, was R2-D2. However, the royal starship still could not jump to hyperspace without proper replacement parts. Furthermore, the starship originally intended to head towards Coruscant, but it had to make an emergency landing on Tatooine, a nearby planet. Queen Padmé Amidala, disguised as a handmaiden named Padmé Naberrie (while her actual and most trusted handmaiden Sabé Luduggel disguised herself as the Queen, who remained on the ship), accompanied Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn as well as with R2-D2 to a city of Tatooine. The city was Mos Espa, where Amidala could seek temporary refuge in secret, albeit with a gamble, and was also perhaps a city where Qui-Gon Jinn could obtain the needed replacement parts to repair the starship’s hyperdrive system. Captain Quaish Panaka, the Head of Naboo Security and present among Amidala’s closest aides in the escape, created this double-identity practice for Amidala should she be under immediate threat; and even the Jedi Master did not know that the accompanying handmaiden was the Queen herself in disguise. A member of the native Nabooan, amphibian, humanoid species—the Gungans, who were also orange-skinned and long-necked-and-snouted—named Jar-Jar Binks also accompanied them. Earlier on Naboo, Qui-Gon Jinn wound up saving Jar-Jar’s life, and in return, the Gungan would serve the Jedi for a while, while being good-natured yet also clumsy and accident-prone.

Qui-Gon Jinn also disguised himself with a poncho to make him look like a local moisture farmer as they entered Mos Espa, which now grew to one hundred thousand residents and was now larger than Mos Eisley but smaller than Bestine. There, they encountered Watto, the Toydarian spare-parts dealer and repair-shop owner with Watto's shop being a large, conical, steel-reinforced, pourstone structure. Watto, a more successful businessperson than before, also now had a scrap yard behind his shop and he even repaired droids, including the moisture-farmstead-popular EG-6 power droids and GNK power droids (both models were boxy-shaped droids that walked on two legs, and the latter of which were famous for producing " _gonk_ " sounds), as a business expansion. Furthermore, the more successful Watto had befriended many Jawas, who taught him the art of salvaging. There, the Jedi also met Anakin Skywalker, a young nine-year-old child and slave of Watto, of whom the Force was very strong with him. The boy lived with his mother Shmi Skywalker, who was also Watto’s slave. The mother and son lived in the large and well-built stone-infilled pourstone slavequarter house that had a well-functioning cooling system. Watto's home and his shop were two separate structures, but were adjacent to each other, in Mos Espa. Also, Watto preferred to sleep in a hanging nest of a higher floor of his shop that also had a well-functioning cooling system. After a brief making of acquaintances, Qui-Gon already realized that Anakin had a major role to play in the Domelake Galaxy’s destiny and already wished to bring Anakin (the possible “Chosen One”) to the Jedi cause. Anakin, quickly befriended the good-hearted Padmé, and he could see that the mid-adolescent girl was someone very special (like an "angel"). Anakin also introduced Padmé to his work-in-process protocol droid, named C-3PO, in his workshop in his slavequarters. The protocol droid was fully functional but he still needed his external parts; and C-3PO met R2-D2 for the first time, while R2 specifically and humorously commented on 3PO’s missing external parts. Anakin Skywalker was also skilled in piloting and in mechanics, and had two good friends of the same age—a Human named Kitster Banai and a Rodian named Wald (both from eopie-raising families); and they both helped Anakin complete his project, which was his podracer. Qui-Gon Jinn offered to purchase the replacement parts, which Watto had in stock, for Queen Amidala’s starship’s damaged hyperdrive system, but Watto would not accept Republican credits. The Jedi also could not use his Jedi mind tricks on Watto, since Toydarians were immune to these trickeries. However, Mos Espa’s annual Boonta Eve Podrace was coming up, and Anakin insisted that Qui-Gon Jinn help him register for the Boonta Eve Podrace, as Anakin had already built a very workable podracing craft mostly by himself. Qui-Gon Jinn then decided to place a bet with Watto, which Watto agreed upon. Should Anakin Skywalker win, Qui-Gon Jinn would gain the boy’s freedom (but not that of his mother as Watto forbade it) and the needed parts to repair Amidala’s ship. If the favorite to win, which was Sebulba (a long-snouted Dug from the planet Malastare, who was a seasoned racer, and for whom Watto placed his bets), would win, then Watto would fully gain Anakin’s podracer. 

The Boonta Eve Podrace involved racing three laps in a course from the grandiose Mos Espa Grand Arena through the northern extremities of the Jundland Wastes and the area between the Western Dune Sea and the Northern Dune Sea (including Mushroom Mesa). The racing track also more specifically involved maneuvering through small and narrow canyons and through rather tight-winding gulleys and even through a cave. Part of the racetrack also went through the open Hutt Flats, which Jabba the Hutt privately owned. The northern edge of the Hutt Flats also was where the Mos Espa Grand Arena was precisely located. The Podrace had eighteen participants of many different species from different worlds, including Anakin—the only Human participant. The Mos Espa-hosted Podrace was dangerous for it involved maneuvering through rough and dangerous terrains. Yet, it as a well-attended race with practically the entire city of the one hundred thousand residents spectating. Qui-Gon Jinn was confident in Anakin’s abilities as the Jedi encouraged Anakin to realize his sensitivity with the Force just prior to the start of the race, though Amidala was hesitant to bet on someone that they just met. Shmi Skywalker also was well-aware of her son’s piloting skills, but she certainly had her reasons to be highly concerned for his safety. Jabba the Hutt presided over the podrace, as he visited with his temporary mate, the female Cellna the Hutt, and with one of his lieutenants, Bib Fortuna, a Twi’lek—a humanoid species renowned for their two lekkus, which were large and long head appendages. Jabba the Hutt arranged and invested in the Podrace, and he would acquire the majority of the profits from the paying attendants. Sebulba was certainly Anakin’s main rival, and just before the race started, the Dug tried to sabotage Anakin’s podracer. Fode and Beed, a two-headed Troig from the planet Pollillus and who were the announcers, also broadcasted the race in Basic. Fode and Beed had a lot of past experience broadcasting sporting events too. 

Sebulba had turned to dishonest cheating in podraces to increase his chances of winning. At the starting signal, Anakin and one more participant, named Ben Quadinaros (a Toong from the planet Tund), could not activate their podracers as all others zoomed off at up to 250km/hr; but Anakin was able to overcome the sabotage and start racing off as well. During the race, Sebulba also dishonestly forced other podracers to crash, by either bumping his own large-sized podracer into them and forcing them to crash or by throwing projectiles into other podracer’s turbines and making them malfunction and crash, while maintaining the lead for most of the time. Some other podracers were not able to successfully navigate the difficult racetrack and therefore crashed either into the canyon walls or within the cave that was part of the racetrack. One participant named Rats Tyerell (an Aleena from the planet Aleena) fully lost control of his podracer and sadly perished within the cave. In addition to having to navigate through the rough terrains, a group of Sandpeople with blaster rifles, led by their tribal leader O'BoR'R'R, interfered in the race, and were able to shoot and disable and crash at least one other podracer (particularly that of pilot Teemto Pagalies (a Veknoid from the planet Moonus Mandel), whom survived the crash at least), resulting in the O'BoR'R'R and his Sandpeople brethren dancing in victory with each holding his blaster rifle with two hands above his head. Fode and Beed realized the interference but could only informally announce and incorporate the Sandpeople's shooting as part of the race's many obstacles. Anakin managed to maneuver his podracer quite effectively and stay well in the race; and he surprisingly was able to make an in-race repair to his podracer and even overcome a trick by Sebulba, which forced him to go up in the air before the boy regained control. The podracers zoomed past a few Jawas, reflexively causing one to shout " _Utinni_!" Eventually an unintentional lock-up between Anakin’s podracer and Sebulba’s podracer forced both podracers to literally wrestle for first place during the third and last lap. However, the eventual unlatching of the two podracers caused Sebulba’s podracer to crash to the ground (but he survived to race again in the future). Thus, Anakin Skywalker won the race with only five other racers being able to finish the race intact with Gasgano (a six-limbed Xexto from the planet Troiken) finishing in second place. Anakin’s victory in no doubt had the involvement of the Force, while Jabba the Hutt fell asleep as he was bored with the podrace, and Bib Fortuna had to wake him up. Anakin won some prize credits for winning the race, and he generously gave a few credits to his friends Kitster Banai and Wald. Victorious, Qui-Gon Jinn was able to obtain the replacement parts needed to repair the ship as well as Anakin’s freedom from Watto. Qui-Gon Jinn was almost anxious to start the young boy in the ways of the Jedi too. Even though Shmi Skywalker remained a slave of Watto, Shmi encouraged her son to seek out his new path in life off of Tatooine as she wanted her son to have a better life than she had been having. Yet, Anakin promised his mother that he would return to her again. C-3PO also remained with Watto and Shmi, as Padmé Naberrie (still Amidala in disguise) along with R2-D2 (serving Amidala) departed for the Naboo Royal Starship with Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin Skywalker. Darth Sidious also sent his apprentice Darth Maul (a Zabrak (whom were naturally horn-headed) from the planet Dathomir, and who was a longtime-trained fighter with face markings to make him look more frightening) to intercept the Jedis with the mission to bring Amidala back to Naboo, and perhaps take down a Jedi in the process. Darth Maul, upon landing on Tatooine and coming to Amidala’s ship’s vicinity, first sent scouting droids to ensure the Jedis’ presence first, before heading in full force. Just before Qui-Gon Jinn’s group was able to board the now-repaired Naboo Royal Starship, Darth Maul immediately arrived on a speederbike and almost accidentally mowed down the young Anakin Skywalker. Anakin managed to dodge Maul in time, thanks to Jinn’s immediate notice of the impending threat. As Anakin ran on board, a Jedi-versus-Sith lightsaber duel took place on Tatooine between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul, which was the first clash of its kind in many centuries. No true victor of this duel emerged, as Jinn was able to hold off Maul long enough for he and everyone else to escape on the Naboo Royal Starship and head to Coruscant via hyperspace. On the ship, Qui-Gon Jinn introduced Anakin Skywalker to his Jedi Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

* * *

**25BBY**

Though certainly not the wealthiest, Cliegg Lars was wealthier than most moisture farmers. He was a very competent farmer and knew how to increase the chances of better crop yields. He was born on the Lars moisture farmstead that was not too far from Anchorhead; and lived with his father Lef Lars and his mother Gredda Lars (both originally from Coruscant, and who established the farmstead). However, the young Cliegg wanted to try life on a Core World. On Coruscant, he met and courted a woman named Aika Xalaak and later married her. He had one son named Owen from his first marriage to Aika; but sadly, his wife died of a disease, when his son was only ten years old. Cliegg then found it necessary to return to his father’s moisture farm on Tatooine and take his son with him; and his son was not happy to spend life on a boring, near-empty, desert planet, especially in the beginning. Cliegg became a competent moisture farmer and was ready to “carry the torch” from his father. However, he was still hurt from his loss; and time had to work very hard to heal this wound, needless to say; but eventually Cliegg and his son recovered. Cliegg’s son also learned moisture farming very well from his father as he grew. Cliegg also built the pourstone entry dome to his moisture farmstead himself, shortly after his father Lef bequeathed the farmstead to him, shortly before his passing. In this year, Cliegg traveled from his moisture farm to Mos Espa in search of another farmhand to work for him. His now-young-adult son, Owen, became very hard-working and dedicated, but Cliegg yielded a lot of extra crops on the season of this year, and thus, he needed extra help as a result. So, upon his visit to the Tatooinian city, he encountered Watto and his shop along with his only slave Shmi Skywalker. Cliegg had been widowed for more than a decade and had been yearning for new companionship. Upon the sight of Shmi, he felt instantaneously attracted to her. Cliegg formally introduced himself to Shmi, and with his good heart, made good conversations with her in the times when she did not have to do anything for her master. Shmi started to feel some attraction for him as well as he confidently presented himself again and again. After a few days, Cliegg requested to purchase Shmi’s freedom from Watto. Watto initially refused and offered a very high and almost unfair price of ten thousand credits. Undaunted, Cliegg promised Shmi that he would return, and for a few weeks, he worked extra hours to harvest and prepare crops from his hydroponic farm, and did all of this mostly by himself. He did not even ask Owen to go beyond his farmwork duties as Cliegg knew that his son wanted some time with Beru Whitesun, whom me met in Anchorhead, and with whom he was courting. Cliegg eventually sold enough crops and even some of his personal possessions to buyers in different Tatooinian cities to raise the money he needed. He returned to Mos Espa and presented the ten thousand credits to purchase Shmi’s freedom from servitude. Watto was impressed for this was more than enough money for him for the remainder of the year. Watto let Shmi go to Cliegg, and Shmi accepted the moisture farmer’s invitation to live with him for she saw how Cliegg really cared for her. Cliegg Lars also purchased Shmi’s son’s creation C-3PO (who had his external parts but still did not have his external finish yet and who looked a dull gray in color) for an extra eighty credits and brought him to his farmstead as well. There at the farmstead, it did not take long for Shmi to grow to love Cliegg as Cliegg loved Shmi; and after six months, they married. Cliegg was truly happy again. Shmi was a very caring person, and Owen soon accepted Shmi as his stepmother as well. One of the best moments came when Owen warmly embraced Cliegg and Shmi simultaneously, calling the three of them a happy family. Though Shmi still yearned for her son, Anakin, to return even for just a visit, Shmi Skywalker Lars most definitely accepted her new life and diligently worked on the farm with her new husband; and she was truly happy. After all, this was Shmi’s first time living both a free and a more comfortable life in many years. Shmi and Cliegg continued to be very close in love and affection to each other as well. Also, Cliegg’s father already had one maintenance droid, the farmstead-popular EG-6 power droid, which walked to different areas in the farmstead and which recharged electronic devices that either ran out or was running out of energy. Cliegg Lars soon also purchased a Wed-15 maintenance droid, that was equipped with many movable arms and tools and that moved on two bottom treads, for extra help. Also, he and his wife Shmi also planted some hubba shrubs around his farmstead, and to their delight, they all grew.

* * *

**22BBY**

Anakin Skywalker, now almost at the start of his adulthood, sensed that his mother was in terrible pain to the point of near-death. Anakin was also unable to control these immense sufferable visions about his mother; and these sufferable pains and visions lasted for a few weeks. He could not take it anymore. So, he temporarily ignored all Jedi practices of letting go of attachments, and had to go to Tatooine. Padmé Amidala, who was no longer a queen but a senator on Naboo, was now Anakin’s secret steady girlfriend (as the Jedi Order forbade romantic/marital attachments). Yet, from the Republic’s and the Jedi Order’s standpoints, Anakin was also Amidala’s protector, and so the couple decided to travel to Tatooine together. R2-D2, whom was still in service to Amidala, joined them as well; and both were happy to have the astromech droid along with them. Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala quickly made their way to the desert planet of Tatooine via Amidala’s personal Nabooan yacht, despite Anakin’s earlier announcement to Amidala that he did not like sand in general (recalling sand as “coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere”). Of course, Tatooine generally evoked his past life as a slave. The two first landed in a docking bay at Mos Espa, which now had a few dozen docking bays, though still having far less bays than Mos Eisley. There, they rode a droid-powered rickshaw-taxi to Anakin’s first home. They encountered Watto, who still had his repair and spare-parts shop, but was now struggling in debt and his shop became dingy with many sandflies buzzing around it and around Watto as well. Anakin approached Watto and first spoke to him in Toydarian and repaired something for him as he waited for Watto to recognize him, despite the decade of passage. Watto after a few minutes did recognize his former slaveboy and identified him in Basic and was amazed by his growth and Jedi position. Watto followed the quick reunion by asking if Anakin could help him collect on money that people (“deadbeats”) owed him. With Padmé Amidala and R2-D2 watching in the background, Anakin, however, cut the chase and seriously asked Watto about his mother, Shmi. Watto revealed that someone else bought Shmi’s freedom as well, and that person was a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars, and that this Cliegg Lars lived in a moisture farm community that was past Mos Eisley. Anakin, after obtaining more information of Shmi’s whereabouts from Watto, set forth with his group to this farmstead community immediately. 

There was a moisture farmstead that minded its business but then a shiny starship landed on the surface, near the entrance dome. Anakin, Amidala and R2 met the small family of moisture farmers of the Lars household, while also encountering Anakin's old creation C-3PO, who still had unfinished external plating but at least had his external plating in general. The protocol droid also happily recognized the couple. Anakin encountered a another man of the same age, and he learned that the moisture farmer in his early-adulthood was his new stepbrother. He was Owen Lars, and he lived with his now-steady girlfriend Beru Whitesun and his father Cliegg Lars; and Owen pleasantly expressed that he knew that he would one day meet his stepmother's son. Anakin was not enthralled that he had a stepbrother now, and almost impolitely asked about his mother only. However, Cliegg (in a dour mood) approached Anakin and mentioned up front to the Jedi that he and Shmi married, and that there was some very important matter to discuss. Cliegg Lars then gathered everyone at the farmstead’s dining room, while Beru served everyone a quick brunch. Cliegg then mentioned that Sandpeople (as “vicious, mindless monsters”) kidnapped Anakin’s mother just a month ago on an early morning, when she was out picking mushrooms off of their moisture vaporators at the surface of their farmstead. Though Cliegg organized a posse of thirty moisture farmers within the community to get her back, the Sandpeople wound up ambushing and killing most of the farmers with only four survivors, including Cliegg, being able to retreat quickly. Three more moisture farmers in the posse went missing too. Cliegg even lost the calf of his right leg in the ill-fated encounter with the Sandpeople. A Sandperson, armed with a blaster, shot his lower leg which damaged it to the point that it had to be amputated; and now Cliegg was restricted to a hoverchair that also used repulsor coils to keep itself afloat when activated. Cliegg then sadly expressed his strong belief that Shmi was now dead, and Owen also felt that Anakin trying to search for Shmi was a moot point. Anakin, however, would not accept it and, with some anger, planned a search himself, while asking Padmé and R2-D2 to stay at the farmstead as he already trusted the Lars family. After all, his mother was also part of this family too. As a Jedi, Anakin could feel his mother's immense pain and suffering. She had to still be alive. 

Anakin quickly set off in search of his mother on Owen's speederbike, which Owen lent his stepbrother. Fiercely determined, Anakin headed northward, where the last known tracks of the kidnapping Sandpeople still lay. He cruised past the Mushroom Mesa and under the B'Thazoshe Bridge, and occasionally asked Jawas at their sandcrawler stops for directions to the possible whereabouts of the kidnapping Sandpeople along the way as the twin suns were setting. Within the night and with the moons Ghomrassen, Guermessa and Chenini up in the sky, Anakin managed to find and treacherously infiltrate the modest-sized Sandperson tribal village of about one hundred and fifty at the northwestern edge of the Western Dune Sea. Sensing his mother’s presence in one particular hut that two Sandpeople guarded, he went to the back and cut out a hole with his lightsaber. Anakin then finally found his mother again all tied up and flattened to a post. Anakin quickly cut his mother’s binds and held her. Heavily beaten, bludgeoned and starved, Shmi Skywalker very happily saw her son one more time and already felt proud of him, while complimenting him on how well he had grown. Anakin spoke of how much he missed her, while expressing that she was finally safe again. However, Shmi then died in his arms just before saying that she always loved him. Holding the now-lifeless body of his mother, whom he very dearly loved, and with all the signs that she was sadistically tortured to death, all the conflicts in one’s mind rushed about. However, all the conflicts ended as Anakin now only had one very strong emotion. It was on the planet Tatooine where Anakin Skywalker would obtain his first true bit of rage and immense desire for revenge, which was heavily against the Jedi code, and which was his very first major step towards becoming a Sithlord. Armed with his lightsaber, he quickly exited the front entrance and angrily ambushed the two immediate Sandpeople, guarding his mother’s prison hut. All the Sandpeople in the village quickly turned their heads at the commotion, and all others came out of their huts wanting to see what was happening. No one expected this intrusion. The tribal leader U'Rih'Ruh and two other Sandpeople angrily charged with their gaffi sticks against Anakin, but Anakin effortlessly impaled them. Two more Sandpeople charged at Anakin, but the Jedi put up a Force shield, which knocked them both to the ground, and he swiftly killed them with his Jedi sword. Then, Anakin leapt towards a Sandperson woman, who had just put down a bucket after completing a chore. She screamed as Anakin impaled her as well. Two more Sandpeople tried to stop him as they charged with their gaffi sticks, but Anakin’s high-level Jedi powers proved to be far too strong for them as well. He flipped himself in the air to dodge any swings of his enemies’ gaffi sticks, and then easily struck the wielders down as well. Anakin also went to strike immense fear in more fighting Sandpeople after effortlessly cutting their gaffi sticks in half with his own lightsaber before either striking the Sandpeople down or impaling them. Anakin charged towards a screaming and crying child, still filled with rage, and made short work of the child. One more Sandperson spear-threw his gaffi stick with the four-blade side against Anakin’s back in the attempt to spear him, but Anakin with the Force knew it was happening, and he quickly turned himself and sliced the weapon in half in the air. Anakin gave the Sandperson a look of one filled with hatred and desire to kill. The Sandperson, who threw his weapon, raised his hands and fear and tried to run; but Anakin performed an aerial flip, landing on the Sandperson’s shoulders, knocking him to the ground. Anakin then quickly stabbed him in full force before immediately heading to the next Sandperson to kill. Many Sandpeople now realized that this Jedi was far stronger than they were, but ten Sandpeople, in a final effort, charged out from another hut that had the cache of arms. They were with blaster rifles, and they quickly spread out and opened fire on the Jedi. Anakin with the Force on his side very successfully either deflected any laserbolt with his lightsaber or dodged them, while flipping closer to them until he could slice the guns and then slice the ten Sandpeople themselves, one by one. Anakin felt the Dark Side of the Force consume him and he actually felt good and full of zest as well as rage. After almost effortlessly killing all the Sandpeople, who were willing to fight him, the retreating Sandpeople men along with the Sandpeople women took their children and tried to flee in terror. Anakin, however, would not let a single one go as his rage went against the entire village. He used the Force to pick up boulders and telekinetically throw them very speedily and hardly against fleeing Sandpeople, striking the backs of their heads, killing them instantly. He chased more Sandpeople himself, striking them down with his lightsaber without hesitation. He definitely did not select his victims as he killed any man, woman and child as fast as he could. One Sandperson put down his gaffi stick in front of Anakin and raised his hands in the air in surrender, but Anakin without a single second thought, rammed his saber through him. The last Sandpeople tried to hide in their huts, but Anakin used his lightsaber to cut into them quickly, and then he brutally killed all the remaining Sandpeople, as they cowered and raised their hands, begging for their lives. Hut by hut, Anakin broke into them and slayed anyone trying to hide from him, even crying Sandpeople children and even Sandpeople women, wailing and trying to convey that they were not in favor of torturing Shmi (as many started figuring out that this was why the Jedi was here). Anakin’s rage still did not simmer down even after when he slaughtered the last Sandperson in the village. He then ensured that he destroyed all the huts to ensure that the whole village was destroyed. After bringing out his mother from the hut where she was held, he fully destroyed that hut as well. Anakin saw a couple dozen hitched banthas off to the side of the village, grunting at the massacre. He used his saber to cut the chains that hitched them and simply set them free. Anakin watched the banthas form a herd and then traverse off to the distance. An anooba then approached Anakin Skywalker and snarled at him, but Anakin held out his hand and used the Force to dissuade the anooba from attacking. The anooba stopped snarling, then looked in another direction, and then slowly turned and headed off in the distance. Anakin even quickly prevented himself from accidentally stepping on a cemath that was beneath his foot for the moment before the small rodent ran off to its burrow. There was still some good in him, considering that Anakin meant no harm to animals. 

Though everyone was happy to see Anakin Skywalker return, the next morning, all fell silent and stunned when he brought back the covered corpse of his mother Shmi. No one said anything as a still-angry Anakin walked by them. As Owen Lars sadly prepared the grave of Shmi Skywalker Lars, Anakin looked for an immediate purpose by fixing broken things in the garage of the Lars farmstead, recalling his earlier life. In the stead's kitchen, Beru Whitesun asked Padmé Amidala about Naboo with curiosity, while they prepared a meal for Anakin, including some nice blue milk. Padmé replied that Naboo was very lush, not like Tatooine, and suggested that Beru should one day visit Naboo; but Beru iterated that she liked it on the desert planet and did not like to travel. Padmé then attended Anakin in the garage with the food, but Anakin's mind was completely preoccupied with other things. Anakin discussed the massacre of the entire village of Sandpeople to his girlfriend in the garage and expressed his sheer hate for them for what they did to his mother. Anakin "slaughtered them like animals!", inferring to animals intended for the slaughterhouses. Angrily, Anakin pledged out loud that he would work on being so powerful so that he could stop people from dying. Padmé in a gentle manner tried to explain that there would always be some things that no one could fix. However, Anakin angrily insisted that he would one day build his power to the point of being able to fix everything. The Jedi then angrily started to blame his master Obi-Wan Kenobi (now a Jedi Master) for holding him back as he also started believing that his master was recognizing his Padawan's growing power and that his master was trying to control him more. Padmé also noticed that Anakin was a little prideful in the massacre of the Sandpeople, and she became disturbed. However, after a pause in the conversation, Anakin broke down, thinking about his mother again. Padmé, understanding Anakin’s extreme emotional distraught, could only now console him, by holding him tenderly in a very caring manner as eyes shed tears from both of them, while Anakin's path towards the Dark Side formulated. The Lars family with Anakin, Amidala and even C-3PO present then very soon held a funeral and a burial for Shmi Skywalker Lars. Shmi's gravestone lay next to those of Lef and Gredda Lars, which were on the surface behind the entrance dome and courtyard of the moisture farmstead. Cliegg narrated a meaningful eulogy as he once more expressed his love for his wife. As Anakin knelt before Shmi’s gravestone, he felt that his own lack of strength failed his mother, and he then made a promise that he would continue to build his strength until nothing would be more powerful than he was. This marked the end of the funeral. However, R2-D2 departed the Naboo Royal Starship and headed to the group in the burial plot, as the astromech droid had an urgent message for Anakin. So, Anakin, Padmé, R2-D2 and C-3PO came to the Starship and watched a rough hologram of Anakin’s master Obi-Wan Kenobi on another Outer Rim desert planet, named Geonosis, transmit a recorded holographic message. Kenobi iterated that he tracked Jango Fett, who earlier tried to assassinate Amidala, to this planet; and that there was a large battle droid factory on this other desert planet as well. Suddenly, they saw Kenobi immediately having to fight a droideka, a powerful, shielded, and fast-moving-by-rolling, Separatist battle droid, in the hologram. The droideka filled the hologram with Obi-Wan pushed back out of view. With sudden concern for his master, Anakin already declared his intent to head to Geonosis; but then the very high-ranking Jedi Master, Mace Windu, holographically connected to Anakin live through the messaging system immediately afterwards. Windu ordered Anakin to stay where he was in order to keep protecting Padmé Amidala and to keep her out of harm's way. Anakin obeyed Mace Windu and was willing to stay longer on Tatooine, but his girlfriend had other intentions for she wanted to help Kenobi, since Geonosis was galactically close to Tatooine and that it would likely take a very long time for assigned help to arrive. She then enforced that she was going to help Kenobi and if Anakin was to protect her, then he had to come along too. Anakin obliged as he felt that trying to help his master was certainly the Jedi way. Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, along with R2-D2 and C-3PO (both of whom had now officially formulated their partnership on Tatooine) left the desert planet in the Naboo Royal Starship. The Lars family let Anakin take his old protocol droid with him, and 3PO neither left Tatooine nor underwent space travel before until now. Owen Lars, however, felt that his stepbrother should have stayed with his girlfriend at his farmstead. Owen felt that Anakin may have been able to mentally heal from the loss of his mother on the peaceful moisture farmstead. Owen and Beru held each other as they and Cliegg watched the Naboo Royal Starship disappear into the sky with concerns. Also in this very year, the Clone Wars, starting with the Battle of Geonosis, began; and Anakin Skywalker was among the belligerents for the Republic versus the Separatists, the latter of which included the Trade Federation and the Intergalactic Banking Clan. The Separatists attempted to drive the Hutts to their cause by kidnapping Jabba the Hutt's son, Rotta the Hutt, while trying to make it look like as if the Republic committed the abduction. However, Obi-Wan Kenobi visited Tatooine and had an audience with Jabba the Hutt in Jabba's Palace and in Jabba's throne room to announce the situation, caused by the Separatists, and to discuss how the Republic was going to assist in the rescue. The Republican forces were indeed able to rescue Rotta the Hutt from the Separatists, so Jabba the Hutt allowed the Republic to use the Hutt Space for hyperspace runs in return. However, that would be all that Jabba the Hutt would let the Republic do with his permission. Following this major early battle of the Clone Wars on Geonosis, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala wed on Naboo with C-3PO and R2-D2 as the only witnesses as marriages were still strictly forbidden within the Jedi Order.

* * *

**21BBY**

Tatooine was almost always too far away from much of the actions of the Clone Wars, and there was little notice of the Clone Wars among the residents. However, one Banking Clan communications frigate (in service of the Separatists), after a long pursuit by two Republican cruisers (which were the Republican capital ships), crashed on the Eastern Dune Sea. The Republican governor of Tatooine, Stalla Moonkeeper, sent a large force to capture any surviving Muuns and battle droids on the crashed ship, and they were able to do it with little resistance. Also, Governor Moonkeeper also quickly ordered the salvaging of the crashed frigate as she quickly wanted to do this before Jabba the Hutt and Sandpeople could do it. Many Jawas had a share of the salvaging too, and the Republic allowed the Jawas to have at least some of the materials from the ship. Stalla Moonkeeper ordered a high watch of any Separatist ships that may near Tatooine with at least a few orbiting Republican sentry ships always on duty, even though she expected that there may be no other Separatist ships that would come this close. Nonetheless, no one could be too careful. However, this action took almost no notice from the moisture farmers, still living peacefully as if there was no major galactic-level war at all. 

Cliegg Lars, for Owen’s sake as well as for his own sake, was initially determined to remain a hardworking, competent moisture farmer on Tatooine despite both his physical disability and his sad internal pain from the loss of his beloved second wife that the Sandpeople caused. However, he grew increasingly depressed and he started working less and less, and then he soon did not want to do anything. Finding Cliegg in his bedroom at a corner on his hoverchair during the day became a common sight, unfortunately. When Cliegg tried to do something, he could only go as far as his hoverchair could let him. Owen never questioned his father’s often-extreme lax for he knew why. He and Beru tried very hard to bring his spirits up, but it was to no avail every time. Cliegg never refused a glass of blue milk, in which Owen and Beru always shared one of their own with him; but nothing could truly brighten him at all, not even for a little bit. Cliegg would never laugh, even if Owen and Beru found laughter at times. Owen and Beru soon started hoping for the best but fearing the worst. One day, Cliegg went to sleep and never woke up again as he died of sheer depression, emptiness in life, and of a broken heart. Owen and Beru were very distraught, needless to say, but they foresaw this happening, as unfortunate as it was. After holding a private funeral for Cliegg and burying him next to Shmi’s grave, Owen and Beru decided to marry, and so they did. Owen knew that this was what his father was hoping for, and perhaps his new marriage will bring him to new life, and it was going to do so. For the time being, Owen upon inheriting his father’s moisture farmstead decided to continue the quiet life with his new wife on Tatooine. Time would later heal the wounds, but Owen at times looked up into the sky in the evening just after the twin suns set, wondering about his stepbrother. Indeed, Owen met Anakin only once and spent time with him for only two days, but considering how Cliegg and Shmi were so close, Owen could not help but feel concerned for Shmi's son as he looked up in silence. Beru, who knew of Owen's wondering of Anakin, often joined him for this silent viewing as well, as the brightest stars started appearing. However, they still never stood on the surface for too long at nightfall as they still had to retreat to the safety of their farmstead from possibly nearby Sandpeople.

At Mos Eisley, in the small, wealthy, and more protected neighborhood with the administrative center, there was a newly constructed hotel that just opened, and a wealthy native Human Tatooinian couple, named Rewym and Nualiassa Yawherder, opened it to take advantage of the ever-ongoing spaceport traffic within the city. This hotel, generically but catchingly named the Spaceport Hotel, was luxurious and very welcoming with many accommodations. Even to the front desk, there was soft and well-cleaned carpeting; and there were hallways that were very inviting for guests, heading to their rooms. Rewym and Nualiassa Yawherder also hired only the most trusted Tatooinian residents as their hotel's staff. Sure enough, wealthy visiting governmental politicians, businesspeople, spacepilots, and seasoned travelers already started frequenting the hotel as guests; and the hotel owners forbade anyone, who did not have the right amount of money, to enter the hotel. (The biggest reason for this was because the Yawherders strictly wanted to block any chance of criminal activity in their hotel). The hotel had a hundred and twenty rooms, and each room had soft but firm beds, fully functioning air conditioning, convenient communication systems, and showers. At the Spaceport Hotel, there were also soothing indoor and outdoor lounges, a large swimming pool, and some courts for healthy game activity; but gambling was not allowed. A guest’s one-night fee was only a hundred and fifty credits, and many patrons really liked the hotel and were happy to offer repeat business, when they needed to stay at Mos Eisley again. Rewym and Nualiassa Yawherder also were happy to pay extra taxes to the Republican government at Bestine in order to have several well-armed Republican guards as part of the staff. The Spaceport Hotel soon gained so much reputation that the staff often sadly had to turn away some visitors due to no vacancy. The Yawherders also rejected repeated offers from Jabba the Hutt to purchase the hotel, and wanted the hotel kept to their standards. Any taxes that the Yawherders paid never financially inhibited the Yawherders' business endeavor for there was plenty of profits, and the hotel was always bustling.

* * *

**19BBY**

The Galactic Empire replaced the fallen Galactic Republic with Emperor Sheev Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) as the ultimate authority in the Domelake Galaxy after stealthily crafting the Clone Wars (the Republic-Separatist Civil War), while also stealthily crafting a new Sithlord from the once-promising Jedi—Darth Vader from Anakin Skywalker. The cruel Sithlord that he was, Palpatine also successfully ordered the destruction of the Jedi Order, while he, the clone troopers, and his new apprentice Darth Vader killed thousands of Jedis (young and old alike), save for very few who managed to escape. Palpatine also ordered Vader to kill all the Separatist leaders, including Nute Gunray. Obi-Wan Kenobi soon defeated Darth Vader and left him for dead, finding it impossible to kill his old apprentice, while taking Anakin’s lightsaber (though Palpatine very soon rescued him, and Vader was now highly crippled and internally injured and direly needing life support and prosthetics). Jedi Master Yoda and Palpatine also fought to a stalemate though strategically Palpatine won because he still retained his ultimate Imperial power. Yoda, Kenobi and Bail Organa (a high-ranking Human senator from Alderaan, and one of the founding members of the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire) agreed to have Anakin Skywalker’s and the recently deceased Padmé Amidala’s newborn twin son Luke and daughter Leia hidden and separated, so that the Empire and the Sith would not capture them and in turn not make them a part of the Sith, just to start. Leia was taken by Senator Bail Organa to live with him and his wife Queen Breha on Alderaan. Both wanted to adopt a baby girl, and this was their chance. Queen Breha was born of a noble family of a bygone royal era of Alderaan. Alderaan had been a democratic republic for a couple of centuries, but Breha along with her predecessors kept the royal title for ceremonial purposes, and her family was wealthy and still politically powerful and influential. The Organa family was the same in these regards as well, though it did not derive from past nobility. Obi-Wan Kenobi brought the infant Luke Skywalker to now-Darth Vader’s stepbrother Owen Lars and his wife Beru, and whom were Luke’s uncle and aunt on Tatooine. Despite some early hesitation, both of whom agreed to raise Luke as their own on their moisture farmstead after hearing of what happened to Anakin Skywalker's major turn in life. Owen Lars initially did not want to be involved with the Jedis or the Sithlords, and wanted to remain a peaceful moisture farmer, which fueled his refusal to raise Luke in the beginning. Yet, the Lars couple felt a familial duty to ensure that Luke would grow up to be a good person, even though it was Beru who needed to convince her husband to do this feat as well. Symbolically, Owen and Beru Lars received Luke from Kenobi while watching Tatoo I and Tatoo II set on the horizon. Kenobi then rode an eopie (which he just purchased form an eopie-raiser on Tatooine) to the Jundland Wastes and exiled himself there. Kenobi now made Tatooine his home, living out of range from most of the Empire, and where he could oversee Luke Skywalker from a short distance. Kenobi was one of two Jedis whom chose Tatooine as their planet of exile, but neither knew of each other's presence there. Obi-Wan Kenobi also mentioned to Senator Bail Organa and Queen Breha that once Leia was near adulthood, their daughter could contact him on Tatooine for assistance when desperate times were to come about. Obi-Wan in Luke’s vicinity also planned to reveal that Luke was a Jedi’s son, once Luke was near adulthood as well. 

Emperor Palpatine as master of the entire Domelake Galaxy imposed martial law and ensured that his Imperial forces were very formidable and even imposing to see. Such examples of Palpatine's manifestation of the Imperial might included the construction of the _Death Star_ battlestation, and with the Republican cruisers that became the Imperial star destroyers as the new Imperial capital ships that patrolled the galaxy, and with the large, elephantine all-terrain armored transports (AT-ATs) as war-machine juggernauts for land battles, and with their very highly numerous twin-ion-engine (TIE) fighters for space and air battles. Under the guidance of Palpatine, the clone troopers also gave way to the new Imperial stormtroopers—the main soldiers of the Empire. Still well-armored to the point of firsthand anonymity of these soldiers, the first stromtroopers were a mix of clones of bounty hunter Jango Fett and of Human recruits. However, it was soon afterward when the Imperial stormtroopers almost entirely comprised of Human recruits, as the clones aged very quickly as a consequence of their artificially produced rapid growth and saw themselves phased out. The Empire occasionally used clone troopers as stormtroopers when a very large Imperial troop presence was needed in certain areas of the galaxy, however, but these were rare cases thus far. In some cases, the Empire employed Grans as grenadiers for the Empire. Since a Gran had three eyes, the Grans' aim for throwing was very, very precise. Also in some cases, the Empire employed Trandoshans (yellow-skinned reptilian humanoids from the planet Trandosha) as soldiers alongside stormtroopers, since Trandoshans were very adept in various weaponry. Emperor Palpatine reigned and ruled from a large and extravagant palace on Coruscant, though he occasionally traveled throughout the galaxy as well. The Empire's battlestation _Death Star_ was also powerful enough to destroy an entire planet, and one of the first planets that met its fate during the battlestation's testing phases was the cratered and atmosphere-less rogue planet Yominol/Hurmhurmet (that the Jawas/Sandpeople respectively named) that the Imperial forces detected heading through the galaxy in a seemingly straight line. Emperor Palpatine also imposed taxes on every single resident in the Empire—present and consistent taxes but at least not too high of taxes.

It was also at this time when Tatooine, like all planets in the Empire’s grasp, received its first Imperial governor and its first Imperial garrison that was noticeably larger than the Republican guard. At first, two Imperial star destroyers quickly captured all Republican sentry ships in Tatooine's orbit by tractor beam; and then there were these two Imperial star destroyers hovering above Bestine at the moment. Knowing that it was not wise to upset the Empire, the last Republican governor of Tatooine, Ven Orbtiller, surrendered his office in Bestine to the new Imperial governor, Belec Hoorl, whom immediately set himself up in the same office. A large Imperial garrison, comprising a standing force of law on the planet, accompanied Governor Hoorl. With the peaceful transfer, the star destroyers, left Tatooine for other planets to help press the Imperial rights there. The Imperial garrison at Bestine consisted of many Imperial officers of different ranks, and all of whom now lived in Bestine. Governor Hoorl, like all Imperial panetary governors, also wore military-officer uniforms when on-duty. The Imperial garrison also consisted of several platoons of standard Imperial stormtroopers, which guarded and patrolled the indoors of the large buildings of Tatooine's capital. The Imperial garrison of Tatooine as a whole also consisted of many platoons of specialized stormtroopers that were trained to live and work in desert environments. They were called desert stormtroopers, and were often nicknamed sandtroopers. Sandtroopers’ armor was overall the same appearance-wise as that of standard stormtroopers. However, sandtrooper armor had internal cooling systems and polarized lenses in the helmets to filter glare from the twin suns. Each sandtrooper also carried a survival backpack, filled with food and water and other emergency necessities, in addition to carrying their weaponry. Sandtroopers also wore shoulder pauldrons to indicate their rank that another could easily see from a far distance. Sandtroopers with black pauldrons were the enlisted soldiers of the lowest rank, then above them were sandtroopers with white pauldrons (which were the sergeants), then at the top were the platoon leaders (which were the captains), who wore orange pauldrons. Ten platoons of sandtroopers patrolled the streets of Bestine, and one platoon of sandtroopers was stationed in Tatooine’s other cities each. Other platoons of sandtroopers regularly patrolled Tatooine's vast desert expanses. Imperial sandtroopers on Tatooine also preferred to use dewbacks for riding, since dewbacks could withstand heat and sandstorms. These Imperial troops, with their sand-friendly armor and gear, soon regularly used dewbacks for their patrols. Yet, it was very rare when sandtrooper platoons patrolled Tatooine in the more distant geographic areas, including the depths of the Jundland Wastes and in the middle of the empty Dune Seas. Thus, most of Tatooine did not have enough authority figures of the Imperial government to maintain order on a grand planetary scale and did not bother to deal with many petty crimes on the planet. Indeed, the stationed Imperial troops were mostly apathetic to day-to-day activities, unfortunately. The rather many Imperial troops preferred to diligently police Bestine, and protect the Imperial governor and the officers, though. Hence, Bestine was still a very safe city. A female Jawa named Benia'la made and sold her well-made and popular handcrafts to customers in her shop in Bestine, and her business underwent no effect during the governmental transfer. A Human named Vilmuc Calnuster had his large-sized used droid lot in Bestine, which was also unhampered business-wise during the governmental transfer. 

Jabba the Hutt, despite the change of galactic-level governments, still had the most influence on Tatooine, nonetheless. The only exceptions were of the few times when the Imperial forces made themselves a bigger presence; but even when these times happened, they were short-lived. Jabba simply lay low until the coast was clear again. Thus, the Hutt was able to exert control and influence on Tatooine unchanged for the most part. Also, many Imperial officers heard of Jabba the Hutt. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader heard of him too. Yet, Jabba still was able to mask his criminal-minded businesses and put his honest businesses forward to be the face to the Empire. (Owning the Spaceport Hotel in Mos Eisley, which Jabba still could not purchase from the Yawherders even with high offers, would surely have been a nice face to the Empire too). Furthermore, Jabba never exerted any direct threat to the Empire, which made things even easier for him. Like any well-seasoned gangster, Jabba also knew how to hide his dishonest jobs at local levels from the Empire. For instance, Jabba the Hutt, shifted his influence away from Mos Espa for a while, since the city was the second-largest on the planet and the Empire started increasing troop presence to three platoons to police at least some more of the city. The Hutt thus shifted his focus more to Mos Eisley until he knew it was safe to exert influence on Mos Espa again, which only took six months to happen. Mos Eisley, however, with only one Imperial platoon on patrol, remained unsafe for most of its areas with many criminal activities occurring daily, which never changed from when the Republic was in charge. Bestine also had two platoons of standard Imperial stormtroopers, who patrolled and policed the indoors of buildings. As for the Bestine Museum, the executives, the scientists, and the staff members, who worked there, as well as the patrons, who frequently visited there, experienced no change at all. Thankfully, there was no difference within the confines in the popular Bestine Museum, if the Republic or the Empire was in charge. One Imperial officer and his wife, both also well-educated in science, were allowed to have paid offices in the Museum on the executive team. They were Commander Ulgit Feek and Rumitica Feek. When Commander Ulgit Feek was momentarily needed for military duties, Rumitica Feek remained in her office to work at the museum. Others who worked and those who visited the Museum did see Imperial stormtroopers, which were a previously unfamiliar sight, but the stormtroopers helped protect the Museum to everyone’s delight. Governor Hoorl and many Imperial officers frequented the Museum as it was a very welcome oasis to a desolate planet. 

Palpatine, in the quite successful attempts to keep his new apprentice well within the Dark Side of the Force, encouraged Darth Vader to travel to Tatooine, where he could infiltrate Sandpeople villages and slaughter the inhabitants, even completely without provocation. That way, Palpatine could ensure that Vader could be filled with rage and destructive thoughts. Needless to say, Darth Vader never forgot his mother and those who brutally tortured her to death, so he always accepted his master’s suggestion. Even before Vader attacked, the Sandpeople felt fear in Vader’s alarming, black life-support suit and mask, and in Vader’s breathing, and in his bright-red lightsaber. The vast majority of Sandpeople did not even try to fight Vader and instead turned to flee, but the Sithlord never showed any mercy, and always left Sandpeople villages fully slaughtered, destroyed, and populated to zero inhabitants. Sandpeople were still no match for this Sithlord, especially with his lightsaber, just like before. Those Sandpeople, who tried to shoot Vader with their blasters, only found their laserbolts deflected by Vader’s hands as well as by his sword, followed by Vader using the Force to yank blasters away from his opponents before he went to attack and strike down the wielders. Darth Vader often destroyed two to three villages on every visit to Tatooine before his rage simmered down. The very few Sandpeople, who managed to flee and hide, far from a Vader-invaded village, always kept the immense chilling vision of this Sithlord—a chilling image, even on a hot desert planet. These very few Sandpeople fled to other Sandpeople villages and told them about Vader, while drawing pictures of him. The survivors always worked hard to instill in others that this black-suited-and-masked, lightsaber-wielding person was someone to be totally horrified about. The Sandpeople, though could not tell offhand, correctly assumed that he was a Human. Some Sandpeople took their word and started immediately fleeing whenever Vader’s presence was known, while ordering their banthas to run at top speed. Deniers learned the ultimate hard way; and even if Sandpeople completely abandoned their villages when Vader approached, Vader still destroyed the villages. Palpatine had a second reason for suggesting that Darth Vader head to Tatooine to slaughter Sandpeople. There were a fair number of people (whether city residents or moisture farmers), who were skeptical and a bit fearful that an Empire was now the galactic government. However, since Sandpeople were intolerant of settlers of other species, many moisture farmers were actually happy that Vader was “coming to town”, which led some farmers to be more accepting of the Imperial presence on their planet now. Furthermore, Vader and Imperial troops left moisture farmsteads to their daily activities, so long as the farmstead individuals and families complied with the Empire. Darth Vader infiltrated Sandperson villages on three separate occasions before he eventually became bored with the monotony. Darth Vader also still disliked the sands. Furthermore, there were soon much bigger Imperial duties for Vader to fulfill and maintain; and Palpatine soon realized that Vader could not just kill anyone who made him angry or there would be less people for Palpatine to govern and from whom to collect taxes. So, Palpatine had Vader entirely stop the practice of killing Sandpeople or anyone else that generally made him angry, unless if they directly provoked Vader (which definitely did not happen). Unbeknownst to Watto and Sebulba, who were still living and working in Mos Espa, Palpatine would have had to claim credit for saving their lives, since Vader originally had his sights on them as well. Yet, for all this time, Darth Vader did not know that Obi-Wan Kenobi and another Jedi had settled on Tatooine himself, and he did not know that his son, Luke Skywalker, was on this same planet as well. He could not feel their presence in the Force. Obi-Wan Kenobi did not feel Vader’s presence or the other Jedi in the Force as well and did not sense their proximities either. Darth Vader was never in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s nor the other Jedi's nor Luke’s immediate vicinity on Tatooine either. Also, the midichlorians may have had to adjust to a desert environment, despite being able to work in most other environments, including the vacuum of outer space. This was why Darth Maul needed scouting droids to help him pinpoint his target of whom Jedis protected, despite being in the close vicinity of Force-sensitive Jedis, more than a decade ago. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi, with the available credits that he had (which was originally quite a lot that he saved from his times on Coruscant), contracted builders to build him a stone-infilled pourstone-walled house with a lighter pourstone dome-roof on the eastern edge of the Western Dune Sea, and surrounded by the Jundland Wastes. His house was typical, comprising of a living area (that was quite large), a kitchen, and a bathroom with a toilet. However, his bedroom was a small nook off of the living area. His dining table was also in the living area, and that same room had his storage chest (where he kept a particular lightsaber and very few personal mementos of his past life), a humidifier, and a worktable for his tradecrafts. His kitchen also had a stove as well as a heater for the whole house that he needed for the cold nights, and it had a ventilation unit for keeping clean air in his house. His house had narrow windows, to keep out too much sunlight, and had a front door and a side door. The pourstone dome-roof had a much-needed air conditioning system. All of his functioning devices were solar-powered that used storage batteries for night use. Obi-Wan also purchased two GX-6 moisture vaporators for his new livingquarters. In his house, Obi-Wan used his own set of tools to build furniture and make tableware from imported wood from other planets that he also purchased from Tatooine’s municipalities, but he purchased no home decor, since he overall kept his home simplistic in accordance to Jedi philosophy. Like the moisture farmers, he grew his own farm crops hydroponically within his house, but only enough for him and his eopie. In a few months, Kenobi was fully settled in his new home. Kenobi never felt the need to fully change his name because he now lived on a planet that was not well-populated, comparing to the Core Worlds. However, he adopted a new first name for himself on Tatooine in order to blend in more amongst the local moisture farmsteads. He chose the name Ben, which sounded very simple to him. Obi-Wan (Ben) Kenobi as a hermit on Tatooine was a far cry to his earlier years of constant companionship of many kinds. He had been on Tatooine only once before to meet with Jabba the Hutt, so he was quite unfamiliar with the desert planet. In fact, after he was fully settled in his new home, Obi-Wan felt lonely and slightly afraid. Tatooine could be quite the eerily silent planet in many areas with breezes hardly making a sound at all. Plus, after all these years of interacting with other Jedi Masters, such as Mace Windu, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Shaak Ti, Kit Fisto, and Plo Koon to name a few as well as spending time training Jedi Younglings, Obi-Wan felt the hardships of having to fully realize that the once-longlasting Jedi Order was completely gone with almost all Jedis dead, in which the cause included the assistance of none other than his former apprentice. Yoda thankfully was still around, but his own planet of exile, Dagobah, was too far away from Tatooine to allow the Force to allow communication with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan Kenobi in his Tatooinian hermitage also had to struggle with guilt, as he believed that it was mainly his fault that Anakin could not continue in the Jedi Order properly. However, to help him cope, Kenobi performed Jedi meditations for a few hours every day to keep his mind well-balanced, and he read many books on numerous subjects to gain more wisdom as his hair started to gray. Some of the books were those that he had in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant that he managed to save. Other books were those that he purchased in municipalities on Tatooine. Also, his mission for the son of his one-time apprentice gave him purpose and gave the little-remaining Jedi Order purpose as well. Eventually, he became used to the long silences of the desert planet. With his tools, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi crafted more objects of need, such as furniture and tableware that he made for sale and trade. Kenobi routinely traveled around nearby moisture-farm settlements as well as cities to sell or trade his commodity crafts. His eopie was indeed quite adept for riding. In Bestine, Obi-Wan as Ben sold his commodity crafts in a market stall in a cluster among other stalls. Kenobi, to his delight, found a customer base for his tradecrafts. Obi-Wan Kenobi also never left his house without his own lightsaber, though always kept it hidden unless needed. 

One of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s trading stops was undeniably the Lars farmstead. Owen Lars over a short time grew to feel that the Jedi and the Sith were mysterious sorcerers who were potentially unpredictable and dangerous. Furthermore, Owen felt that his then-Jedi stepbrother should have stayed with his family on Tatooine with yet another reason for wishing that his stepmother, Shmi, could have been saved, which in turn would have guaranteed that his father Cliegg would have lived longer as well. If that was not enough, comparing himself to his stepbrother, being a moisture farmer was definitely more peaceful than being a Force-sensitive Jedi, having to fight things. Thus, Owen felt a noticeable but unmistakable fear and distrust of absolutely anyone who was sensitive with the Force, even for Obi-Wan Kenobi, the exiled Jedi on his planet. Thus, he and Beru only occasionally purchased a needed commodity from Kenobi, but quickly asked him to leave their property, even though Luke as a small child was eager to meet and talk to the hermit. Obi-Wan already saw a bright and good-natured child in Luke, and always waved hi to Luke in a caring grandfatherly manner. However, Obi-Wan sensed Owen’s fear and distrust and so he always accommodated him in a friendly manner so that Owen would not do something like turn against the Force-sensitive Luke, who had now reached his boyhood. Furthermore, Obi-Wan Kenobi at first considered training Luke in the Jedi ways, while Luke was in his boyhood, but he knew that Owen and Beru would not allow it. Beru, of course, could easily see the sharp contrasts in the lifestyles of the two stepbrothers: Owen and Anakin turned Vader. So, Obi-Wan knew that he could not try to turn to Beru first to approach Luke. Thus, Obi-Wan Kenobi would still have to wait until Luke was old enough. Obi-Wan, being the good-natured Jedi that he was, also never intended to harm anyone. However, upon serious provocation, he drew his lightsaber and struck. In the early years, some Sandpeople and some bandits (who were from bandit guilds, originally founded by Alkhara’s bandits, and who lived on Tatooine) occasionally hid outside his isolated house and tried to ambush Obi-Wan. However, using the Force, Obi-Wan was easily able to sense their precise locations and anticipate their actions, and thus he effortlessly struck them down as they tried to attack him. He also used telekinesis and the Force shield to fend off less-serious attacks, and he deflected laserbolts with this sword to further dissuade less-serious attackers, while giving them a chance to retreat. Thus, it did not take a long time for Sandpeople and Alkhara’s remaining guild bandits to generally steer clear of Obi-Wan Kenobi, no matter where he was on Tatooine. Jawas, Sandpeople and bandits also started seeing him as a mysterious sorcerer as well. As a result, Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi then also started to take long strolls through the canyons of the Jundland Wastes when he had more time for himself, always armed with this lightsaber, but was never pestered by any passerby, whom was rare to encounter there. Sandpeople with blaster rifles, even from afar, did not think of trying to shoot the ageing Jedi. Obi-Wan always could sense a hostile person’s presence, even from a distant range. Jawas even left Obi-Wan Kenobi gifts, whether be water, food or Jawa-made handcrafts on his front doorstep when Kenobi was out, in order to appease the “mysterious sorcerer”. Obi-Wan Kenobi, to show that he was happy to treat anyone well, should they do the same for him, always accepted the gifts from the Jawas. Obi-Wan Kenobi also was to keep his eopie as his beast of burden for more than a decade and a half, and he well-treated his only close companion. Kenobi also kept his eopie in a well-protected stable that had plenty of room.

* * *

**14BBY**

Among the wealthiest moisture farmsteads on Tatooine was the Darklighter farmstead, which regularly made profits on harvested water and crops. Five-year-old Luke Skywalker made a new friend, named Biggs Darklighter of the exact same age. They both met for the first time when both of their families were selling their farmed goods in Anchorhead. Luke was blond-haired and Biggs was brown-haired, but that was the only difference between them because the two boys became the best of friends, as they both discovered that they had many shared interests. The Lars farmstead and the Darklighter farmstead were actually in the same community, but on opposite ends. The slight distance between farmsteads surely did not stop the two boys from being able to see each other on a regular basis, however. Luke also befriended another boy of his same age, and also from the same moisture farm community. His name was Windy Goodseeker. Like Luke, Windy was also blond-haired. Many times, Luke, Biggs and Windy hung out together around the moisture farmsteads of their family members, finding games to play together. Sometimes the three boys helped either Luke’s Uncle Owen or Biggs’ father or Windy’s father maintain farm equipment as the farmstead community encouraged teamwork-oriented development for the community’s children. There was no doubt that the three boys were going to grow up together too. Luke's Aunt Beru as well as other mothers of the moisture farmsteads also took time to give Luke, Biggs, Windy and many other community children some schooling, which only lasted an hour per day, since every adult was busy almost constantly, maintaining their farmstead homes until the twin suns set. As Luke continue to grow, Owen and Beru Lars would ensure that Luke would learn the value of hard work, commitment, and loyalty. 

* * *

**9BBY**

Tatooine’s population of sentient beings reached 1,250,000, including the native Jawas and Sandpeople, whom both comprised about 20% of the population. The major languages spoken on Tatooine were Basic, Bocce, Jawaese, Gaderiffii, Huttese, and Rodian. Luke Skywalker started building models of Incom T-16 skyhoppers and of other famous airships and starships of many kinds. Building models surely became his hobby that he enjoyed in his freetime. It was also when Owen and Beru Lars purchased a new family landspeeder from Bestine, while trading in their old one. The Mobquet Deluxe A-1 landspeeder was new for its time with three thrust engines, a seating cabin for four, a closed hatch for extra protection, and an overall streamlined design from nose to rear. The landspeeder cost four thousand, five hundred credits, which Owen and Beru could afford. Within this year, Luke Skywalker formally learned of his grandmother Shmi, and how she as a Skywalker married into the Lars family. Luke also learned that Owen was his father's stepbrother, which had absolutely no effect on Luke viewing Owen as his uncle. Luke also learned from Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru that his grandmother Shmi and Owen grew very close to each other as a stepmother and a stepson could do, when Owen was young. So, Owen was his uncle because stepsiblings count, as Luke personally saw it. At this time too on one particular day, however, Luke and his friend Windy Goodseeker wandered off into the vast Western Dune Sea, carrying supplies with them in their attempt to go on a small adventure. However, the two did not realize that they wandered off too far until they found out that there were empty sand horizons all around them. Realizing that they were lost, they called for help, while trying to retrace their steps, both to no avail. As the twin suns set, Luke and Windy luckily stumbled upon a small but noticeably deep cave in the Dune Sea, and decided to make camp for the night. The two were afraid, but were happy to have each other as they both started a campfire at the mouth of the cave. The stars were bright, and so were two of the three moons that were visible at the moment. As Luke and Windy talked and tried to formulate a plan to find their way back to their community, the cold winds blew, but the two had blankets in their supplies. As the now-freezing breezes blew, the two boys heard a long trumpeting sound in the distance. Luke and Windy looked at each other, wondering what it was, but both soon forgot about it as the sounds of the freezing breezes only filled their ears again. After about an hour, the two were still awake, stretching their legs thinking that it was time to sleep, but then suddenly, Luke felt an urge to yank his friend back further into the cave. Luke did so as Windy was befuddled, but then the large, monstrous head of a krayt dragon burst into the cave, and snapped its jaws, just missing Windy. Luke and Windy yelled in terror and ran into the depths of the cave as fast as they could. The krayt dragon was able to reach its long neck into the cave, while roaring at the two boys, and trying to reach and hunt them. Luke and Windy felt the exhaling breath from the dragon, that smelled awful, as they ran as fast as they could. Thankfully, the mouth of the cave was too small to fit the dragon's body, and so the monstrous reptile reached a point where it could not enter any further. Luke and Windy started to hear the dragon's roaring become quieter, so both realized that they were safe and turned around. The two boys saw the frightening face of the krayt dragon growl with its imposing brow horns quietly and snarl as the reptile knew that it missed its prey. The krayt dragon eventually gave up and left. Luke bravely ventured to the mouth and quickly yanked the two blankets along with the rest of their supplies and retreated back to Windy. The dragon thankfully did not return. Luke also noticed that the dragon extinguished their campfire as the dragon entered, but Luke also knew that the dragon with its thick skin definitely did not feel anything as it did it. As Luke and Windy decided to rest further back into the cave and started a new campfire, Windy dearly thanked Luke for saving his life, but Windy also asked of how Luke knew to pull him back in time. Luke completely did not know. He just felt an uncontrollable urge to do it. The cave was not deep enough to have standing water, and no woodlice nor monsterflies inhabited this cave. So, Luke and Windy finally went to sleep. The next morning, the bright light of the twin suns entered the cave. Both Luke and Windy were happy that they made it through the night, needless to say. However, the two were still lost. Yet, the exiled Jedi, named Obi-Wan Kenobi, arrived on his eopie at the cave, as Kenobi could sense that the nearby Force-sensitive Luke was lost and in distress. The Jedi called into the cave for anyone there. Of course, the two boys were happy to see “Ben” as they answered his call and ran towards him. After hearing of their encounter with the krayt dragon, Ben Kenobi in a grandfatherly manner warned Luke and Windy to not ever do this kind of dangerous adventure again. Luke and Windy truthfully obliged with some sadness but Ben cheered them up by complimenting them of their ability to survive this kind of night; and so, the Jedi took the two of them back to their respective farmsteads in their community just before nightfall. Ben also told Luke and Windy about krayt dragons in general on the way home. Owen Lars, after the initial relief that Luke was safe, was not thankful but furious that Obi-Wan interfered in Luke’s daily life, and then forbade the “wizard” from coming to the farmstead for two whole years, regardless of any valid reason for Ben having to visit. Obi-Wan Kenobi, who again did not want to stir any negative feelings on behalf of Luke from his uncle, apologized and obeyed Owen Lars’ banishment. Obi-Wan did not even explain to Owen of Luke's very dangerous situation with Windy, the previous night, as he did not want to see Luke undergoing a very severe punishment. Aunt Beru, while caringly having Luke in her arm, led the boy downstairs to the courtyard of the farmstead. The ageing Jedi could only leave now, while Owen at the surface of the stead continued to give him a dirty look until Kenobi on his eopie was out of sight. Then, Uncle Owen punished Luke for disappearing for a whole night, as Luke had him and Beru very worried, of course. When Luke and Windy saw each other again, neither told his respective family about the encounter with the krayt dragon, and pledged to never tell, except perhaps to Biggs Darklighter. However, nightmares of the encounter with the krayt dragon persisted in Luke and Windy for a long time. As for Obi-Wan Kenobi, even from afar, the ageing Jedi was still going to ensure that Luke was going to grow up well. At home, Luke also asked his Uncle Owen about his father. Owen replied that he was a navigator on a spice freighter and nothing more. Also, as Luke, Biggs and Windy started to reach their preadolescence, their competitive games became more serious, but the three never begrudged each other, should one win over the other two. There was always another day to play. Also, right at the start of preadolescence, Biggs Darklighter slowly gained the leadership of the three, with Luke and Windy tagging along for most of the time. Yet, both Luke and Windy looked up to Biggs as Biggs proved himself as a born leader. Biggs Darklighter was also fair and did not take advantage of Luke and Windy at the same time. 

A Wookiee came from his homeworld of Kashyyyk to Tatooine. (Wookiees were tall, physically strong, very hairy humanoids with limited linguistic abilities and that were sometimes temperamental; but they were also very intelligent, capable of learning and understanding many different languages, capable of living up to several centuries, and also very loyal, caring and helpful to anyone of whom they befriended). This Wookiee, named Chalmun, was well-educated in business and became a daring entrepreneur in his quest to found a cantina, filled with the favorite drinks from all over the galaxy. Chalmun chose Tatooine for his business endeavor because Tatooine was at a crossroads of hyperspace runs and for the fact that there was no other business of this kind within the spaceport city—a niche market with no competition. Chalmun knew what to do, even though he had to invest more money to start his business. Not only did he purchase land and a foreclosed, empty restaurant from Mos Eisley’s municipal government, he also would have to annually pay protection money to Jabba the Hutt, so that Jabba’s henchpeople would not try to seize the Wookiee’s business and take control of it. Unlike the Spaceport Hotel, Chalmun's cantina was well within Mos Eisley's rougher areas; and Jabba the Hutt had much more influence in Mos Eisley, outside of the administrative and the wealthy areas. Chalmun, also pledged not to even think about claiming Jabba’s annual fee for himself, in which he fulfilled this pledge. The abandoned restaurant was not very large but certainly large enough. It had a quite large entrance area, a central bar, and a large private office for the Wookiee behind the wall of the bar with a small door between the bar and the office. The abandoned restaurant also had twenty-four booths, several small tables in the space between the booths and the bar, a small power room, two small storage rooms toward the back door, and a small basement underneath, which one could reach via a narrow stairway from the bar. Chalmun named his bar, the Mos Eisley Cantina, so that potential customers would know that this was the bar to head towards in Mos Eisley. The generic name was to work well, and as his investment brought numerous kegs of drinks to his not-yet-opened cantina, Chalmun already thought of bringing in live bands to provide entertainment. So, he converted one of the booths of his bar into a bandstand, and started sending job advertisements for an aspiring band to the other Tatooinian cities and to nearby systems in the Domelake Galaxy. Chalmun definitely wanted to hire the best band that he could find. The Wookiee also supplied new barstools for the bar. When the Mos Eisley Cantina finally opened, his bar indeed became popular for it was the only one in town. The Mos Eisley Cantina was almost always busy and well-occupied with customers, wanting a good drink, to Chalmun's delight. Many pilots, stopping over from the hyperspace runs, came to cool down and have a drink too. However, as unfortunate but not surprising as it was, the Mos Eisley Cantina became a place to involve illegal and black-market trading, with many of these trades taking place within the booths of the cantina. Very few honest business dealings also took place in Chalmun’s Mos Eisley Cantina. Yet, Chalmun the Wookiee found that if he did not personally see any wrongful deals, taking place in his business establishment, he felt clear of wrongdoing himself. Business was already booming.

There was also a Human moisture farmer on Tatooine, named Ariq Joanson. Joanson became famous for setting up his farmstead with GX-6 moisture vaporators right next to the start of the Western Dune Sea as opposed to all other moisture farmsteads that established themselves on the Tatooinian plains and the plateaus. Joanson was able to demonstrate that the moisture vaporators drew water at equal amounts, comparing to other vaporators elsewhere on Tatooine. This was a big realization because many moisture farmers thought that the Dune Seas and nearby rim areas would be even drier than the plains and plateaus of Tatooine. Ariq Joanson, who was also quite wealthy, was able to establish for himself a large and productive moisture farmstead at the edge of the Western Dune Sea. Ariq Joanson also became familiar to the Jawas in a good way, since he strove to trade fairly with them always. Jawa clan leaders Thech and Nmaes, after dealing goods with Joanson many times, gave Joanson a great reputation, and soon started to spread the word to other Jawa clans. Sandcrawlers started making regular stops at Joanson's moisture farmstead. Joanson also tried something that no one dared to think about. He tried to negotiate a peace plan between the Sandpeople and all other sentient beings on Tatooine with only few but some Sandpeople willing to at least listen. Two tribal leaders of Sandpeople named G'R'M'Urr and Boul'N'ouR'R with their respective wives H'uuR'R'R and Jaa'NoRR sat with Ariq Joanson and a female Human moisture farmer named Woan Pherson, who also strove to create a peace plan with the Sandpeople, in a meeting chamber on the outskirts of Wayfar. The Human moisture farmers used all the Gaderiffii language that they knew for the talks (in which their level of knowledge of the Gaderiffii language was enough to communicate). This ability for the two Human moisture farmers to speak at least some Gaderiffii did impress the Sandpeople at the negotiation table. However, right in the middle of this well-progressing negotiation process, Imperial sandtroopers quickly infiltrated the meeting chamber, and forced the meeting to adjourn, while holding everybody at blasterpoint. The Imperial troops harmed no one, but gave everyone a major warning to never meet up like this or face execution. The Imperial forces certainly did not want alliances to form on Tatooine, since shared intraplanetary alliances could lead to rebellion to the Empire, since intraplanetary alliances often led to everyone looking at the Empire as a common enemy. The Sandpeople angrily left on their banthas, while lumping the Imperial troops with all other Humans, unfortunately. A frustrated Ariq Joanson and a frustrated Woan Pherson, both of whom only wanted to be peaceful moisture farmers among their neighbors (including the Sandpeople), now strongly considered joining the Rebel Alliance. They both would do so, shortly afterwards. 

* * *

**3BBY**

Luke had been begging his Uncle Owen for an Incom T-16 skyhopper, since he was twelve for one of Luke’s dreams was flying aircraft and (to his secret) spacecraft as well. On his 16th birthday, Luke Skywalker received his very own T-16 skyhopper as his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru saved up enough money to purchase a pre-owned one for him for this special day, and for the fact that Luke was a very diligent worker on the moisture farm as he was making his way through his adolescence. The pre-owned T-16 skyhopper cost ten thousand credits, but two consecutive well-productive seasons on the farmstead yielded the Lars family some good profits. Indeed, the Incom T-16 skyhopper was a user-friendly craft, specifically designed for beginners, wanting to take to the air from the ground. (Incom was the same company that also produced the Rebel Alliance-favored T-65 X-wing fighters). The T-16 skyhopper came with two modest-sized, lower airfoils, acting as the wings, and a large vertically high airfoil for balance. The T-16 had a cockpit, built for one pilot; and a single ion engine propelled the airspeeder. The T-16 skyhopper also could travel up to 1200kph and could reach a safe altitude of 275km. With such a great aircraft for Luke, the sixteen-year-old moisture farmer spent all of his freetime, learning how to fly his skyhopper with the help of a qualified instructor from Bestine at first. When Luke was qualified enough to fly his skyhopper himself, he flew it at least three times per week, and he very much took care of his private aircraft. He loved going joyriding within the aircraft and loved flying through Beggar’s Canyon and Bildor’s Canyon with it as it felt rewarding to fully traverse them. After passing a Bestine-sponsored flying test, Luke was allowed to have two pneumatic cannons installed on his T-16, which fired a strong concentration of air. Luke, thus was able to use his T-16 for sportsmanship, participating in friendly competition with his best friend Biggs Darklighter, targeting womp rats in the Jundland Wastes. Luke fired the pneumatic cannons on the womp rats, which knocked them into the air until they regained footing. Biggs, who soon also received a pre-owned T-16 as his birthday present as well, engaged in sporty matches with Luke with both competing for who would shoot more womp rats and also competing for who could perform more aerial stunts in a shorter timeframe. Luke and Biggs would also race each other through Beggar's Canyon regularly. Luke also flew his T-16, whether traveling himself or traveling with either Owen or Beru (whom drove their landspeeder), to Bestine a few times, since Luke also liked visiting the rich and safe city. Owen soon became disgusted with the practice of family traveling in two vehicles, and enforced that if the family went to Bestine, all three will go in the Lars family landspeeder to Luke's dismay. 

It was also this time when Obi-Wan Kenobi’s personal eopie died of natural causes, and Kenobi could not help but feel sad and mournful for the loss of his only recent, loyal companion. When Kenobi needed to travel far, after his eopie’s passing, he occasionally resorted to paying a Jawa clan for a fare on their sandcrawler. The Jawas were always willing to accept a payment for an occasional service, like this one too, in addition to feeling that it was better to accommodate the Jedi “wizard” than not. Sometimes, the Jedi had to walk long distances to reach places of need. Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom started to sense a greater feeling of loneliness, now exited his house more often, particularly when there were animals about, whether there was a bantha strolling about at midday or a monsterfly flying overhead at dusk or a cemath sniffing the ground for a fallen banda. Kenobi even took the time to kneel next to the occasionally wandering forest lizard, while watching the small reptile hunt insects. However, his Jedi meditations continued to help him cope with his extreme isolation. Furthermore, as Obi-Wan Kenobi knew that Luke was getting closer to the start of his adulthood, the aged Jedi made more frequent trips to Mos Eisley to gather any news that he could find about the Empire and of his old apprentice, which he was often able to obtain. Kenobi also received an unexpected but welcomed private visit at his home by a Mon Calamari (a pisceo-reptilian humanoid with red-orange skin, slightly webbed hands and feet, and large bulbous eyes on each side of the head) from the planet Mon Cala. His name was Gial Ackbar, and he was a high ranking military officer of the Rebel Alliance. Ackbar mentioned to Obi-Wan Kenobi that the Rebel Alliance against the Empire was growing, and that the Rebels may need the ageing Jedi's assistance soon. Kenobi was in favor of the Rebel Alliance, but he mentioned that he would only officially join when he was fully ready as Kenobi also had to keep monitoring a special adolescent boy's development. Ackbar understood and Kenobi thanked him for the updates on the Rebel resistance movement. 

Many bounty hunters, including Greedo the Rodian, Bossk the Trandoshan, Raxick Dengar (a Human from Corellia, who was famous for his bandaged head and armored suit and his physical fighting abilities), the weapon-adept hunter droid IG-88, and the Human-clone Boba Fett were happy to work for Jabba the Hutt as he paid them all well (though not without some negotiation from both sides). Jabba the Hutt hired these bounty hunters as independent consultants. Jabba the Hutt also hired spacepilot Han Solo as an independent consultant for smuggling. Han Solo was a young Human Corellian with some maturity and one who had his fair share of life experiences as a spacepilot and one who was slightly braggy of his skills and accomplishments. Han Solo and his two-hundred-year-old Wookiee companion and copilot, named Chewbacca (or Chewie for short), proved to be quite skilled and competent in spacefaring and smuggling. Chewbacca at his age was in the prime of his life too. Han and Chewie smuggled all sorts of goods for Jabba the Hutt, with the goods ranging from Jabba’s favorite foods and condiments to highly demanded commodities, rarities, and luxuries in their freighter, the _Millennium Falcon_. The freighter was of the Corellian YT-1300 model, that Han Solo won from Lando Calrissian (a Human originally from the planet Socorro) in a gambling match, involving a sabacc card game. Lando Calrissian made improvements to the freighter, and later Han Solo and Chewbacca, upon gaining ownership, made more improvements to the _Falcon_ , such as enhancing the quad-laser cannons to destroy an enemy starfighter in a single shot. Han Solo’s great knowledge of the Domelake Galaxy and all of its hyperspace runs were more than beneficial for Han and Chewie to find their way to more goods to smuggle on numerous different planets and to find emergency escape routes to evade pursuers. At this time, Jabba the Hutt also acquired as a slave-dancer, who was once the daughter of a tribal chief on the planet Askaj. Her name was Yarna d'al' Gargan, who was an Askaji, in which the species was near-Human humanoid. Even though Yarna was heavy-set in stature, she was quite the skilled dancer, who never failed to delight Jabba for entertainment. Despite her original status as a slave, Yarna worked hard to keep a positive attitude, and she started finding friendships with Jabba's aides. Jabba the Hutt soon gave her a paying job of supervising the palace housekeeping crew, in addition to now paying her for her dancing performances. She was no longer a slave to Jabba but now one of Jabba's actual paid workers with higher status. Yarna d'al' Gargan certainly accepted the positions, while socializing well with Jabba's aides. 

Chalmun the Wookiee had a high turnover rate for bartenders in his cantina. However, that stopped when Chalmun hired Wuher Stonemover to be the new daytime bartender of his Mos Eisley Cantina. Wuher Stonemover was originally from Bestine and spent his whole life on Tatooine. Wuher was originally an airpilot, transporting goods from city to city. He then decided to try his hand in bartending, and took some schooling for this career change. Wuher applied to work for Chalmun in Mos Eisley and presented his soon-to-be boss his education in chemistry and his knowledge in hundreds of different favorite drinks. When Chalmun hired him, Wuher proved to be a very competent bartender, and Chalmun was very lucky to hire him. With the ongoing success of Chalmun’s Mos Eisley Cantina, Chalmun let his business stay open all night too. So, he also hired Ackmena Boltooner to work the overnight shift. Ackmena from Mos Espa was a twenty-year veteran in bartending, who worked in bars in Mos Espa and in Bestine. She also had a very good amount of knowledge in hundreds of different favorite drinks. Like with Wuher, Ackmena proved to be a very competent bartender as well after Chalmun hired her. In addition to her good knowledge on the job, Ackmena had a very friendly personality, and many patrons of Mos Eisley Cantina liked her. Wuher also respected her. Both bartenders were middle-aged Humans and Chalmun hoped to keep them both on his payroll for a very long time. Also, Ackmena lived with her Human wife in Delkin Ridge, which was within the wealthy neighborhood of Mos Eisley. Her wife was Sorschi Claystacker. Chalmun also hired a young male Jawa, who was outcast from his clan and who recently turned to urban life, to help the bartenders by bringing more drink kegs to the bar and maintaining the cantina. The Jawa's name was Sigthum, and he had a part-time job helping either Wuher or Ackmena depending on the hours. Sigthum was happy to have his new job, despite that it was a rather hard job. 

* * *

**2BBY**

Now seventeen years old, Luke Skywalker had become a bored farmboy. Luke started dreaming of leaving the moisture farm and becoming a spacepilot, especially since his best friend from childhood, Biggs Darklighter, had just left Tatooine that year to enroll in an Imperial Academy, far off Tatooine. Biggs felt the need to pursue a military career in the Empire in the beginning, and he was happy to have his start. Luke’s Uncle Owen did not let Luke go to the Academy because he still needed him on the farmstead for the Lars moisture farmstead had still been quite productive as one reason. Another reason was Owen’s desire to protect Luke from following the footsteps of his stepbrother, whether advertently or inadvertently. Luke’s Aunt Beru, though sympathetic to Luke’s desire for going to the Academy and understanding of Luke wanting to find his own path in life, also respected Owen’s desire to protect his and her nephew from what could potentially happen. As a result, not only was Luke bored, he became whiny, while feeling that he was being held back against his will. Also, though Windy Goodseeker still lived within the moisture farmstead community, Luke and Windy drifted apart. It had nothing to do with their close call with the krayt dragon, several years ago; and there was no tension between them of any kind. Luke and Windy just drifted apart. Nonetheless, Luke still worked hard on the farmstead for he was an honest person and worker. He even worked on maintaining moisture vaporators on days during sandstorms. Wearing a floppy hat, a poncho, and goggles for eye-protection, Luke diligently worked to ensure that there would be ongoing water for the farmstead. At the very least, Luke had also received his own landspeeder as Owen and Beru paid twelve hundred credits for it. They gave Luke his own landspeeder because they also gave him greater responsibilities, particularly with Luke obtaining new supplies from other moisture farmsteads within their community and obtaining other supplies from nearby municipalities. The particular SoroSuub X-34 landspeeder was brown in color, had three turbine engines, and was heavily used with noticeable wear. Luke’s landspeeder was not just pre-owned but was actually forty years old. Yet, despite the vehicle’s advanced age, the landspeeder still functioned well, even though it did require more maintenance than such with newer speeders. Luke’s landspeeder had an intact windshield, but one of the three turbine engines was missing its protective cowling, though it still functioned as it should as the vehicle was well-maneuverable and was still able to travel at up to 250km/hr. Unlike with the T-16, Luke did not go joyriding in his landspeeder, and only used it for work (though he wished that could race his now-absent friend Biggs in landspeeders). Furthermore, Luke obliged to the farmstead-community suggestion of not flying one’s landspeeder through the Jundland Wastes due to Sandpeople with blaster rifles, who often hid there. Also, at his age of seventeen, one evening when the twin suns were setting, Luke went up the stairs of his farmstead to the surface. He spotted a courting couple of monsterflies overhead, and Luke kept his gaze on them as they went off into the distance until they vanished from his sight. Though it was definitely not the first time Luke wondered about this, this time, it really nagged him. All of Luke's friends had a father and a mother, and Luke did not. Luke only had an uncle and an aunt. Of course, Luke loved his Uncle Owen and his Aunt Beru and he was happy to live with them. At his current age, Luke also started fully realizing that Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru had been playing the part of a father and a mother in his life. Luke knew about how his father's family and his current uncle's family married into each other, but that was all he knew. So, he definitely wondered about who his father and who his mother were, and why was he not with them. Why had Luke never seen them nor met them even once. Overall, Luke could only get sparse information about his father and mother from his uncle and aunt; and Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru hardly wanted to disclose anything about Luke's parents other than that he was (actually not) a navigator for a spice freighter. Now, Luke started to feel like he could not fully realize his identity, and in addition to being occasionally whiny, he started becoming sadder and more lackadaisical. Of course, this drew the ire of his uncle, but his aunt expected this, especially at Luke's current age. Aunt Beru calmed Uncle Owen down and explained to him what was happening to their nephew and that this was a normal phase. Owen understood and gave Luke a little more time off of his duties for a while. This undoubtedly helped, and eventually, he stopped obsessing over who his father and mother were. Thankfully, Luke came to the point where he could wonder about his parents while not becoming mentally burdened by the thought. Luke then regained his diligence on the farmstead. At the same time, every time he saw Ben Kenobi, Luke increasingly felt like the "old wizard hermit" knew a lot more about him than he thought. Ben Kenobi never mentioned anything about who Luke was beyond Luke's own immediate life to him. Yet, there was something. 

At times when he was really bored, Luke would head over to the Western Dune Sea on his landspeeder in his freetime, and shoot scorpions with his two-hundred-year-old blaster rifle (a very old hand-me-down weapon) that still functioned and that Owen also gave him that year. Shooting scorpions was an outlet for his boredom. However, after a very short time, he realized that it was morally wrong to do this. They were just scorpions in their native habitat, trying to live, and so Luke quickly stopped this hunting practice. Luke then started to venture into the caves to give himself some exploratory adventures. In the caves, he could hear dripping water to his surprise. However, the occasional monsterfly and/or woodlouse that jumped into Luke’s presence certainly startled him. Luke only used his blaster rifle when in need for self-defense, which was a rare occurrence. Yet, Luke knew not to venture too far into caves all by himself, particularly for the potential case when any kind of accident should occur. So, even Luke had his limitations on his sense of adventure, and he always had to keep on the lookout for Sandpeople. On a particular day, Luke parked his landspeeder on the Western Dune Sea to stretch his legs (as he was in the midst of experimenting with the speeder's other capabilities). However, Luke on the bright sand involuntarily jumped a few meters to the side, while a sandworm quickly resurfaced, where Luke was originally standing, and failed to strike at Luke. Luke backed off quickly to his speeder, while not being able to comprehend how he "knew" that he had to dodge at the very moment. Luke also did not know that he was able to jump like how he did, and he tried to formulate reasons in his head for this unexpected ability as the sandworm sunk back into the sand. On another particular day, Luke again went to the Western Dune Sea in his freetime, parked his landspeeder and took a walk to give himself a change of scenery to relieve his boredom, while carrying his blaster rifle for protection. Though he suddenly felt something coming prior, this time a mouth tentacle knocked Luke to the ground. Panic-stricken, Luke just barely was able to reach for his rifle as the mouth tentacle wrapped itself around his leg. Luke felt himself pulled, and then he saw the sarlacc. Luke positioned his rifle at the base of the mouth tentacle and fired, and quickly worked hard to ensure that he would not accidentally shoot his own leg. One shot stunned the tentacle, but he was still caught. Luke fired several more shots to the point where the sarlacc's secondary tongue mouth screeched in pain. Then, Luke finally started feeling the grip of the mouth tentacle loosen. Luke finally was able to wrest himself free, and bring himself to his feet, and run away from the sarlacc, which was applying its mucous to its shot tentacle to alleviate the pain. As Luke quickly headed back to his landspeeder, Luke could only start thinking that he had to find some other ways to relieve his boredom. 

One day, to appease Luke and relieve Luke of his boredom, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru took him in their family landspeeder to the Bestine Museum in Tatooine’s capital, which actually awe-inspired Luke. The Museum was quite inviting with cool air. Beru loved the sandglass sculptures and Owen had to coax his wife into seeing some of the other exhibits. Luke saw the Museum’s large and spacious aviary, where protected communities of mwoots, corletures, karnops and volmares lived. The aviary was grandiose in size with many walking paths for visitors and staff members, while the birds flew or ran around, hunted insects, picked fruits and vraalaa berries, built nests, and raised their nestlings. The aviary also had many trees (many of which came as seeds from other planets, though many native deb-deb trees were present too). The aviary was also filled with native funnel flowers and razor mosses along with grasses from other planets to help create a forest floor. Vraalaa bushes were very recently rediscovered by Jawas in an isolated rock formation near their secret Pika Oasis, and now these bushes grew in the Museum's aviary as well. Many of the Bestine Museum’s staff members gave guided tours of the aviary, and lectured to the visitors (including Luke, Owen and Beru) on how these birds once flourished on this same planet but also a much different planet, long ago. Indeed, these Tatooinian birds were saved from total extinction, thanks to a few Jawas, who were bird lovers. These Jawas from various clans originally kept the birds contained in large-sized cages but also kept them safe and protected within the very few safer and milder areas of the planet. Then, the Jawas kept these birds in their mountain fortresses on Jawarundiu. Eventually, the Jawas sold these birds to the Museum’s founders, who were enthralled to see Tatooinian birds that had been long gone from the wild for several millennia now. Now, these native Tatooinian birds had a safe place to live in this large aviary in the Bestine Museum. Luke was definitely intrigued by the sight of Tatooine's birds. The birds also made Luke feel as if there was more excitement to his life that was coming. Though Luke had very, very sporadically seen Imperial stormtroopers in desert gear—the sandtroopers—patrolling the plateaus, the plains and the Jundland Wastes, Luke for the first time in his life saw many Imperial stormtroopers at once, whom regularly patrolled Bestine, and whom there were two that guarded every one of the Bestine Museum's hallway doorways. These stormtroopers as doorway guards always stood still in full attention, while holding their blaster rifles. 

* * *

**1BBY**

Jabba the Hutt longed for a monstrous pet that would help him manifest his power, and he already commissioned for the construction of a drop-grille at his throne room with a slide that led to the storage chamber below. This large storage chamber of Alkhara was now to be a pit for Jabba’s future-monster pet. This was so that Jabba could sadistically feed captured enemies, incompetent workers, and other people (whom Jabba felt like executing for his pure amusement) to his desired monster, with Jabba watching everything from above. Jabba the Hutt was soon to acquire his latest pet that now dwelled in this pit blow his throne room. It was the rancor monster (originally from the planet Dathomir), which survived unscathed (though unconscious and still caged) in a transport ship that crashed in the Western Dune Sea. Lieutenant Bib Fortuna and a Human from Corellia named Bidlo Kwerve (also one of Jabba’s lieutenants) were able to chain the bipedal reptilian monster with long needle-sharp teeth and with gargantuan, dexterous arms with large prehensile hands to Jabba’s pit. The two lieutenants brought the unconscious rancor through the pit’s giant door. The pit still had two chambers with an immense raising and lowering, solid gate. Fortuna and Kwerve presented the rancor as a birthday present for Jabba. Jabba, who now also enjoyed smoking a hookah pipe on his dais, was highly impressed and welcomed the new pet as the Hutt saw the rancor pacing below him. As a reward, Bib Fortuna accepted his instantly promoted position of majordomo (the highest-ranking aide to Jabba, and who could run the palace in Jabba's absence), while unexpectedly sending Bidlo Kwerve to his death as Jabba fed him to the rancor monster. Jabba called Kwerve’s sacrifice an honorable, rewarding death for this was a historical moment for Jabba to witness. Bib Fortuna also quickly recruited a muscular and heavy-set Human named Boumal Malakili to care for Jabba’s rancor. Malakili from Corellia was originally a well-experienced animal handler from the Circus Horrificus. However, on the planet Nar Shaddoa, there was a sheer accident within the circus, involving escaped animals, that caused a lot of damage. Malakili, who oversaw the animals, lost a lot of his reputation, even though it was a sheer accident of which he was very much ashamed. So, he accepted his new position for he also never cared for a rancor before and wanted the new experience, and also because Jabba would pay him handsomely to care for the new pet. Malakili’s quarters were also at the subterranean level, outside of the actual rancor pit; and he liked the dank lower areas of the palace that were aloof from Tatooine’s heat. Malakili grew to love and personally care for the rancor’s well-being as the person and the animal interacted regularly, particularly during feeding times of the leftover meat and bones from the kitchen. As expected for Jabba the Hutt, the crimelord fed his captured enemies along with his workers, whom Jabba no longer wanted, to the rancor. Unfortunately, however, Malakili learned that Jabba the Hutt would abuse the rancor by pitting it against other formidable animals for Jabba’s own amusement. This started with the rancor against three large combat arachnids from the planet Caridan; and these three arachnids had twelve legs each, had very long and sharp spines all over their backs, and had large mandibles each. The rancor defeated all three of them but not without very serious injury with many slash wounds and wounds inside his mouth when the rancor bit one of the combat arachnids. The rancor immediately then fell unconscious when Jabba exposed the monster to sleep gas, following the fight. Malakili caringly ran to help the rancor in the midst of a few Gamorrean guards trying to obtain the harvestable arachnids’ chitin. Malakili treated the wounds with gooey ointment, and even treated the wounds in his mouth with the ointment with the help of large tongs. Despite the rancor monster regaining consciousness quickly, it did not attack Malakili, even when the animal handler was in a vulnerable position in the pit. Later, the rancor monster tolerated Malakili more and more, and a bond was forming.

Soon, without Jabba’s permission, Malakili let the rancor through the giant basement door and out into the desert as Malakili knew that all caged animals generally want to be out and free. Malakili coaxed the rancor to come out despite the immense brightness of the twin suns high above. Suddenly, the rancor burst out running, and started romping on the desert plains. Malakili knew that the rancor was not trying to escape and the beast was simply enjoying its freedom. Malakili in a monitoring manner on an airpod followed the rancor calmly, even though alarms were sounding in Jabba’s Palace. However, the rancor started heading for the Jundland Wastes, with Malakili not expecting it to traverse that far. Malakili was now worried and followed diligently, while obsessing over the upcoming severe punishment from Jabba. At the alluvial opening of a canyon in the Wastes, Malakili searched for Jabba’s pet, but by sheer bad luck, his airpod malfunctioned and settled to the ground. Suddenly two Sandpeople on banthas sprang from their hiding places at the Human animal handler, who was totally unarmed. As a Sandperson swung his gaffi stick on his charging bantha, Malakili dodged but fell. The attacking Sandperson quickly dismounted and readied his gaffi stick for another attack. Yet, suddenly the rancor leapt from above and killed the other Sandperson and tackled the bantha, and then killed the bantha by using its massive arms to twist and break its neck. The other bantha charged in the attempt to butt the rancor, but the rancor picked up a heavy boulder and smashed it against the bantha’s skull, cracking it, while the bantha gave off a painful grunt that waned to nothing. The other Sandperson, who tried to kill Malakili, only watched in terror, forgetting about the Human target. Malakili quickly took a smaller boulder and smashed it against the Sandperson’s skull, killing him as well. The rancor started feeding off of one of the banthas. Malakili felt sorry for the banthas for he worked with them in the past. Surprisingly, the rancor after gorging on his meal darted back towards Jabba’s Palace, as if knowing where its home was, with Malakili clinging onto its neck as nightfall and the cooler air came about. Even more of a relief came when Jabba did not punish Malakili for setting the rancor loose for he was impressed with the animal handler’s abilities to monitor the rancor well. Jabba was, however, furious that he could not have seen this battle between his pet and two Tatooinian-native banthas. Jabba’s majordomo, Bib Fortuna, suggested that the rancor fight a krayt dragon, which heavily exhilarated Jabba. No krayt dragon was ever captured alive, and Jabba offered a whopping one hundred thousand credits to anyone who could accomplish such a feat. However, Malakili knew of krayt dragons and was already very concerned for the rancor for krayt dragons had one of the most fearsome and deserved reputations for animals in the Outer Rim. Jabba the Hutt was even considering building a major amphitheater, outside of his palace, for this event. Malakili knew that no matter the fight’s outcome, the rancor, to which he had grown attached, will undoubtedly die from this. Back in the palace, Malakili pushed his cart of leftover meat and bones to the rancor, which was back in its pit underneath’s Jabba’s throne room. Malakili, who now sat and ate with the rancor in the pit, did not want this fight between the rancor and a krayt dragon to occur; and it was clearly only Malakili himself who personally cared for the monster. Malakili started wondering if he could arrange the rancor’s freedom, and escape with the beast. In Mos Eisley, Malakili consulted the Lady Valerian of Arcona. (The Arconans from Arcona were humanoids with porcine faces and T-shaped heads). The Arconan noblewoman was also a wealthy businesswoman with many investments (including the ownership of the Lucky Despot hotel in Mos Espa and a casino in Mos Eisley), and was a competitor to Jabba the Hutt. Malakili asked if she could bring one of her transport ships and practically steal the rancor from Jabba, and bring it to another world where the rancor could live and thrive in freedom. Just to see Jabba’s expression after this kidnapping was enough for Lady Valerian to accommodate Malakili, and Malakili would install a secret camera in Jabba’s throne room so that Lady Valerian could witness the reaction. Thus, certainly the Arconan noblewoman obliged to this stunt, even without a fee for Malakili to pay. Now, Malakili only had to count the days in the hopes that this rescue plan for the rancor monster would indeed commence. Lady Valerian mentioned that it may take up to a few years for the rescue plan of the rancor to take place. That was okay for now because he knew that it would take longer to capture a krayt dragon, should one even be able to accomplish the feat. Malakili continued to feed and spend some time with the rancor, keeping the bond strong. Boumal Malakili then peacefully noticed some forest lizards, few of which made a new home in the lower levels of Jabba's Palace, looking for scraps. Malakili allowed the small lizards to have some. Jabba the Hutt, meanwhile, had the rancor and the Pit of Carkoon, serving as his favorite methods of execution. 

* * *

**0BBY**

Tatooine had a total population of 3,000,000 sentient beings, including Jawas and Sandpeople, still comprising 20%. Tatooine’s municipalities in alphabetical order were Anchorhead, Arnthout, Bestine, Mos Eisley, Mos Entha, Mos Espa, Mos Taike, Motesta, and Wayfar. Bestine had a population of 350,000. Mos Espa had a population of 250,000. Mos Eisley had a population of 150,000. All other cities ranged in population from 75,000 to 100,000. All of these cities were scattered on the plains and plateaus between the Western Dune Sea and the Eastern Dune Sea, and south of the Northern Dune Sea, except Mos Espa which was between the Western Dune Sea and the Northern Dune Sea. The northernmost city was Mos Espa and the southernmost city was Wayfar. The two largest and richest cities on Tatooine were Bestine and Mos Espa. On the region of Jawarundiu were about one hundred and fifty Jawaese clan-owned mountain fortresses. Aside from Jawarundiu, there was no habitation of sentient beings within the Dune Seas. There was no habitation of sentient beings within the Far Hills either; and the Far Hills was devoid of animal life as well, with only one exception. An elderly exiled Jedi, who survived the Jedi Purge, lived as an extreme hermit within the Far Hills. Her name was Toha Gre, and she was a Human Jedi Master, who was one of very, very few Jedis who managed to escape the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Toha Gre was a respected Jedi Master, whom trained several Padawans to Knights. Yoda and Mace Windu consulted her for missions many times among other very competent Jedis. During the Jedi Purge, she realized that the Jedis were not going to win this battle against Darth Vader and the clone troopers. She also eyewitnessed from afar Darth Vader almost effortlessly bringing down another well-respected Jedi Master Cin Drallig. So, she among an extremely lucky few managed to escape in time, while these very few Jedis successfully fought through the clone troopers, who surrounded the Temple, and who were able to prevent many other Jedis from escaping. On Tatooine, Toha Gre and Obi-Wan Kenobi could not, however, sense each other's presence on their exiled planet due to the desert air not being well-conducive to the midichlorians. Toha Gre also had her own moisture farmstead under heavy rock cover to keep herself and her settlement well-hidden in the Far Hills. Her only companion was a corleture, of which she purchased in Bestine from Jawas. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi, she too found it very difficult to live as a hermit as protection from the Sith and the Empire in the beginning; but she eventually got used to it as a moisture farmer, who also read books and practiced Jedi meditations regularly when she had the time. Also on Tatooine, about two hundred large and small moisture farm communities also peppered the plains and plateaus of Tatooine too, and moisture vaporators were very much a common sight. The latest model of moisture vaporator by Pretormin’s Environmental was the GX-8, which cost only 500 credits, and were abundant on practically all of the moisture farmsteads on Tatooine, except for the few longlasting GX-6 models that still functioned well. Moisture farmers and urbanites sometimes even left their discarded droids and landspeeders, that they could not sell, for the Jawas to salvage and repair. Jawas never turned down this kind of opportunity. 

Outside and behind Jabba’s Palace, there was now a very large dumpsite of organic and inorganic waste that filled a quarry-sized ditch. The massive doors that led to the quarry also served as another exit for Jabba the Hutt, should he be in insurmountable threat. Also, in Jabba’s Palace, more bands had arrived at Jabba’s service than had left, as Jabba executed some band members or even whole bands, when he did not enjoy their singing and instrumental music anymore. He had also done the same with female humanoid dancers. Needless to say, these actions dissuaded many bands and dancers from coming near Jabba’s Palace. Yet, some bands and dancers still applied to work for Jabba the Hutt, as some were in immense debt or were desperate to make themselves famous. Also, if Jabba the Hutt disliked a bandmember but still liked his/her instrument, he kept the instrument after executing the bandmember. Then, Jabba ordered another bandmember to play the instrument, even if he/she did not know how to play it or even if he/she never saw the instrument before. This became commonplace too in Jabba's Palace. Jabba the Hutt also had just hired the Max Rebo Band, this year. The Max Rebo band was originally a trio at the time of their hire, and the band consisted of the band leader and organist Max Rebo (a male Ortolan from the planet Orto, who had a proboscidean nose and floppy ears, and also ingested food and drink through its fingers), the lead singer Sy Snoodles (a female Pa'lowick from the planet Lowick, who had eye stalks and a mouth stalk), and flutist Droopy McCool (a male Kitonak from the planet Kirdo III, who was bulky with a high nose on the face and very, very tiny eyes; and whose real name was Snit with Droopy McCool being his stage name). The Max Rebo Band was (like all other bands that Jabba hired for his entertainment on Tatooine) very desperate for work and found no choice but to perform for Jabba. Also, even during Imperial rule, the Yawherders' Spaceport Hotel of Mos Eisley kept its great accommodations and great reputation high; and the Yawherder family continued their success of keeping their hotel out of Jabba's hands. Jabba the Hutt also recently hired two reputable accountants. One was Mosep, a Nimbanel (a walrus-faced humanoid) from the planet Nimb, who was craftily able to disrupt cash flows to at least some other organizations (which Jabba disliked) and in turn was able to filter a trickle of their money to Jabba the Hutt. Then, there was Tessek—a Quarren (a squid-faced humanoid) from the planet Mon Cala. Tessek was a much more honest accountant and did not initially realize how criminal were a lot of Jabba's businesses. While Tessek did most of the accounting legwork for Jabba, he started secretly formulating ways to plot against the Hutt crimelord. Tessek's main goal was to fully expose Jabba's criminal activities to the Empire. Tessek once even invited an Imperial inspection party to Jabba's Palace without Jabba's permission. The inspection passed through with the sheerest of luck on behalf of Jabba, but Jabba was secretly starting to suspect Tessek. Nonetheless, for the time being, both Mosep and Tessek went about their accounting duties for Jabba. Another of Jabba's higher advisers was the Gran, Ree-Yees, who grew up on Jabba's Palace, and who recently assumed his new job title in Jabba's Palace. Jabba the Hutt also employed the thin-humanoid-shaped supervisor droid, EV-9D9, as the droid in charge of all droids that worked in Jabba's Palace. She was a droid that did not care about her droid brethren and per Jabba's instructions, she was happy to overwork all of her subordinate droids until they dropped. The two Gamorrean guards Gartogg and Nultugg stood just beyond the palace main door of Jabba's Palace, always standing in wait to be Jabba's first doorpeople to any visitor to the palace. 

Luke Skywalker had just returned on his T-16 skyhopper, flying like a daredevil through the Jundland Wastes by himself and through the Stone Needle unscathed, albeit with a whole lot or risk, needless to say. Feeling increasingly confident of his piloting abilities, he came right up to his Uncle Owen, and boasted his accomplishments. This only resulted in Uncle Owen becoming furious yet again and grounding him from his skyhopper for the whole season for reckless flying. Owen only wanted to both protect Luke from an early accidental death and protect him from personal unrestraint (to which Luke’s father succumbed). Owen was very strict and firm, while Luke felt horrible about himself. However, Luke accepted his punishment with understanding. One Jawa clan, who had a sandcrawler and had obtained surplus building material, started developing airpods—low-floating pods (1m off of the ground when operating) with small repulsor coils and made for one pilot each—that the Jawas used for scouting for something to salvage or to see if any danger would be near, before the sandcrawler would come. Jawa clans soon started trading other goods for airpods among each other thereafter. 

Bail Organa and Mon Mothma (a Human originally from the planet Chandrila, who was a senator in the Galactic Republic and who became the highest member of the Rebel Alliance) decided that Rebel Alliance must obtain the technical readouts (the plans) to the _Death Star_ Imperial battlestation and superweapon, and find a weakness, so that they could somehow destroy it. Needless to say, by accomplishing this, the Rebel Alliance would obtain its major boost for its morale. Bail intended for his daughter Leia to obtain and carry the plans (with the hopes that her diplomatic status of Alderaan would render her immune to Imperial eyes) until a Rebel force could be mobilized to strike. Princess Leia Organa was most definitely an important member of the Rebel Alliance, like her parents. Kyle Katarn, a mercenary for the Rebel Alliance (hired by Mon Mothma), infiltrated an Imperial base on the planet Danuta that was currently keeping the technical plans for the _Death Star_ and managed to obtain them; and then he quickly handed them to Princess Leia Organa. With the plans in her hand, she boarded a Rebel blockade runner, the _Tantive IV_ , and headed to Tatooine to find Obi-Wan Kenobi in order to ask him to accompany her to Alderaan and even more sincerely ask him to help her in her fight against the Empire. Captain Raymus Antilles was at the ship’s helm, and many Rebel soldiers and droids (which served different functions) were on board, along with Leia. There was also a particular astromech droid, R2-D2, who was to play a pivotal role for the Rebel Alliance; and this droid was in service of Princess Leia Organa and Captain Antilles at the time. Leia upon the _Tantive IV_ did arrive just above Tatooine’s upper atmosphere. Tatooine's three moons, Ghomrassen, Guermessa and Chenini, were also well in view. However, an Imperial star destroyer, the _Devastator_ and a ship that Darth Vader had boarded at the time, intercepted Leia’s ship, and there was a pursuit high above Tatooine’s surface. The _Tantive IV_ was much smaller than the _Devastator_ ; and tried hard to get away while the two ships exchanged fire, but sure enough, the Imperial star destroyer shot a blow that fully immobilized the Rebel ship and made it ready for capture with its tractor beam. Before her capture, Leia hid the _Death Star_ plans in R2-D2 with a holographic message to Obi-Wan Kenobi in her plea for help. All Leia gave to R2-D2 came in the form of a removable memory drive that R2 now carried and guarded. R2-D2 and his companion C-3PO, who was also serving on the _Tantive IV_ with other protocol and astromech droids (such as U-3PO), left for Tatooine in an escape pod en route to the desert planet below them. The two droids were more than lucky that the Imperial gunners decided not to fire on and destroy the pod, as the Imperial officer, Commander Nanoolishian Praji, decided that it was not worth destroying it as the pod did not carry life readings and for the possibility that the pod could have had been a decoy to thwart their attention. C-3PO hoped that this was a safe mission as the two droids saw the Imperial star destroy appear smaller and smaller. The escape pod soon headed downward and landed within Tatooine’s Western Dune Sea. C-3PO and R2-D2 exited the pod and began traversing the sands. Tatooine was certainly an unfamiliar landscape to C-3PO as Captain Antilles erased the droid’s earlier memories, long ago. R2-D2, however, remembered everything as the astromech droid thankfully did not undergo a memory wipeout. Neither Leia Organa nor Luke Skywalker, whom were both very near to each other (astronomically speaking), would think that each other’s twin was almost right there. Luke wore a cap and poncho with goggles, while he maintained some of the surface-level moisture vaporators on the moisture farmstead of his Uncle Owen and his Aunt Beru. The farmstead’s Wed-15 maintenance droid assisted Luke as he worked, and followed him when he gestured the droid to follow him. Luke then went to maintain his landspeeder. 

The protocol droid felt distressed on this seemingly new desert planet, and wanted to seek any kind of shelter before the blowing sands would start slowly clogging his internal parts and locomotors and rendering him immobile. The astromech droid, however, was given a mission of being Leia's messenger, and he was determined to fulfill it. The two droids argued on which way was the best to go, but then both parted ways in opposite directions. C-3PO heading westward, only went deeper into the empty Western Dune Sea, while R2-D2, heading eastward, went towards the Jundland Wastes where he correctly believed that settlements, including where his contact lived, were there. C-3PO realized that he went the wrong way after he encountered a skeleton of a krayt dragon and blamed his astromech friend for “tricking” him to go there, but then, he saw a large, land vehicle on the horizon with a large searchlight, which was appearing bigger and bigger. The protocol droid was enthralled as if being rescued and flagged the Jawa sandcrawler towards him, shouting "Over here!". On the _Tantive IV_ , Darth Vader choked Captain Antilles to death as he tried to pry any information about the stolen technical readouts from him. Only Princess Leia knew about the whereabouts of the plans, however, Imperial troops managed to capture her. Before the Imperial star destroyer _Devastator_ with Darth Vader and the captive Princess Leia headed towards the battlestation _Death Star_ , Commander Praji informed Vader that there was absolutely no sign of the stolen plans on the Rebel blockade runner. The Empire strongly postulated that somehow someone or something carried the plans to Tatooine. Vader ordered Praji to contact the Imperial government on Bestine, and to send two more Imperial star destroyers to Tatooine and remain in low-planetary orbit, in case if someone or something was going to escape Tatooine with the plans again. 

Luke with this electrobinoculars noticed light specs in the sky, a bit earlier, at the Tosche Station at Anchorhead. Luke quickly informed some of his friends, who were also moisture farmers taking leisure with him, about what he thought was a space battle. His community-moisture-farmer friends Deacon "Deak" Canpinter, Camie Banwinder and Laze “Fixer” Loneozer (all in late adolescence as Luke was; and Fixer (a mechanic at the station) and Camie just recently became an engaged couple) did not believe him while almost insulting him, and postulated that the Rebellion against the Empire would never come to this desolate planet in the Outer Rim. Luke Skywalker’s old friend Biggs Darklighter returned to Tatooine to visit family and old friends, including Luke, of course; and he was also there at Anchorhead. After two years in the Imperial Academy, Biggs learned the ways of the Empire and its government along with strict officer-candidate training. Biggs even had a training session on how to fly an Imperial TIE fighter while at the Academy. Biggs then graduated with a commission to board a non-combative Imperial freighter, the _Rand Ecliptic_ , as a second-rank officer. As the two old friends walked together in privacy in the Tatooinian town, a few more light specs appeared in the sky that Luke and Biggs were both able to see through Luke’s electrobinoculars. Biggs also postulated that it must have been a freighter, refueling in orbit above Tatooine. Thus, no one believed Luke unfortunately, though Luke was actually right. However, Biggs informed Luke at Anchorhead that he had just defected the Empire for the Rebel Alliance, feeling that the Empire was too tyrannical and that the Rebel Alliance to restore the Republic was more righteous. This was very secretive information to share, but Biggs could always trust his childhood friend. Biggs felt that at least someone should know about this defection. If that was not enough, Biggs even strongly suggested that Luke also join the Rebel Alliance, once Luke would be free from his farmstead duties. Soon, Luke bade Biggs farewell as Luke’s longtime friend then commissioned a spacepilot to fly him to the fourth moon of Yavin, where a very prominent base of the Rebel Alliance lay in secret. 

R2-D2 continued upward a canyon floor, where a river once ran, several thousands of years ago. The astromech droid knew that Obi-Wan Kenobi was in the direction that he was going, since Gial Ackbar secretly relayed to Princess Leia of the Jedi's home vicinity earlier. Dusk was approaching and animal sounds started to echo around the droid. Mists were also becoming visible along the canyon walls. R2-D2 wished that 3PO would have gone with him. However, to the best of his instructions from Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s dwelling should not be too far away from where he was as it was getting darker outside. However, the astromech droid started realizing that he was not alone for little, cloaked humanoid beings with glowing yellow eyes were peeking at him. R2-D2 looked around, but then further realized that he had to move faster through the canyon. However, a Jawa clan leader, named Dathcha, fired an ion blaster at the droid, immobilizing him and deactivating him, and then forcing him to fall over. The Jawas came out of their hiding places, with Dathcha directing his brethren to capture the droid and bring him to their sandcrawler. After all, there was a newly found droid that they could sell now. Using the massive land vehicle’s magnetic suction tube, R2-D2 was now among many captured droids for salvage and sale. Even luckier for the Jawas, this astromech droid was fully functional and was a potentially easy seller. 

The next morning, Commander Praji contacted the Imperial Governor of Tatooine in Bestine, Vallo Siltrunner, about the red-alert need to search for any escaped pods, from the captured Rebel blockade runner, on Tatooine. Governor Siltrunner quickly and strictly ordered three sandtrooper platoons from Bestine, to follow the order. One particular platoon, led by Captain Prestelk with his orange pauldron, felt a strong need to fulfill this emergency mission, and decided to start with the Western Dune Sea in their search, since the _Devastator_ caught the _Tantive IV_ over that particular area of the desert planet. Using their dewbacks to patrol the areas, the sandtroopers indeed found only one landed escape pod in the Western Dune Sea and not too far from the Jundland Wastes. They also saw tracks, which immediately let Captain Prestelk know that someone was actually in the pod; and there were two tracks. One of the subordinate sandtroopers went to Captain Prestelk and brought forth a small metal part where the tracks were leading, which immediately let them all know that there were two droids that they were now to pursue and capture. No wonder that there were no "life readings". Another of Prestelk’s enlistees spotted sandcrawler tracks that were nearby to one of the droid’s tracks. The sandtrooper platoon now had their lead. 

The Jawas switched on all of their captured droids in the droid chamber of the sandcrawler; and the also-captured C-3PO encountered his friend again, and both droids were happy to be reunited. C-3PO and R2-D2 were among many different droids in the droid storage chamber of the sandcrawler. There were protocol, astromech, maintenance, medical, and power droids, just to start. There was another protocol droid, named RA-7, with an insectoid face, and which sneered at R2-D2. There was also a droid in the chamber that the Jawas found as a discard that now struggled to move due to too much sand in its joints and locomotors. It was a secretary droid, named CZ-1, which had its face modeled after the Stacchati species of the planet Stacchat. In the sandcrawler was also a GNK power droid that started roaming the chamber. Some of the droids wandered around the chamber and into nearby corridors, but learned that they could not travel farther than what the mild, cyclic laserbars permitted when a droid came too close. After a few hours, the Jawas eventually stopped their sandcrawler at the Lars farmstead, and Dathcha ordered his Jawa brethren to bring out all of their droids for sale. Another droid for sale was a very early-model astromech droid, named R1-G4. Another droid for sale was LIN-V8K, a demolitionmech droid which was semispherical in shape and that planted explosives purely for mining purposes. By sheer, luck Owen and Beru Lars were in need of new droids to be in their service. Owen and his nephew Luke Skywalker needed a protocol droid that spoke Basic and Bocce and could understand the programming languages of moisture vaporators. C-3PO, who personally wanted a new quieter life away from all of this wartime action, was happy to announce that he possessed these abilities in truth. Owen in a grumpy manner then asked the Jawas to purchase C-3PO. (It was ironic that Owen Lars and C-3PO not only knew each other in the past, but they lived and worked together too. However, C-3PO had his memory erased on the _Tantive IV_ right after the Clone Wars, and the protocol droid now had a nice golden finish to this external plating, which was not there before. This reunion was also nineteen years later as Owen held other protocol droids before they malfunctioned within this timespan. So there was no recognition of each other now). Luke felt that another astromech droid, the “red” R5-D4, would suit the farmstead’s needs as well. So, Owen Lars purchased the two droids from the Jawas for 125 credits each, and called the two droids to their farmstead. R2-D2, whom did not want to separate from his protocol companion, started beeping profusely until Dathcha set his remote-controlled droid caller on the astromech droid, which stunned R2 to being silent and still. However, R5-D4 malfunctioned immediately en route to the farmstead, leading Owen to angrily accuse Dathcha for selling him defective products, but the lead Jawa truthfully expressed that he had no idea that R5-D4 was not fully functional. However, C-3PO suggested that Owen and Luke take the “blue” R2-D2 instead. They obliged, and the Jawas were happy to replace one defective astromech droid with another fully functional one. The Jawas soon headed their sandcrawler down its trading path, following the sale. Dathcha the lead Jawa hoped that one day, he could take a trip off of Tatooine to see what was beyond the planet and be the first Jawa to accomplish such a feat. C-3PO was happy to call the Lars farmstead family his new masters, but R2-D2 still had other plans. 

Later that day, R2-D2 and then C-3PO received a nice soothing oil bath in the garage, which washed off the sand from the droid’s joints and locomotors. Needless to say, both droids were sure in need of a good cleaning a good re-lubrication. As Luke started conversing with C-3PO and R2-D2 to get to know them better, Luke mentioned to them that they were now on the planet Tatooine, and “if there was a bright center of the Universe…”, they would be “…on the planet that it’s farthest from.” Luke then could not help but vent his frustration and boredom of his stagnant life on the moisture farmstead to the two droids, while holding and looking at his model of a T-16 skyhopper—something Luke already was missing—that he built when he was roughly half his current age, and the model had an emblem that Luke would like to eventually add to his actual T-16. The protocol droid mentioned to Luke about their involvement in the Rebel Alliance against the Empire, which intrigued Luke; but C-3PO was already accepting his new life on the moisture farmstead. However, Luke realized that there was something lodged in R2-D2’s storage drive, but then Luke by sheer accident activated a secret, cryptic message from Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, desperately calling for Obi-Wan Kenobi to help her cause for the Rebel Alliance. The message appeared as a holographic image of Leia as she narrated the message specifically for Obi-Wan Kenobi. The message was not complete, and only a small portion of the message was playing; but Luke was still awestruck by the message, while complimenting the very similar-aged girl’s good looks. R2-D2 then concealed the message as the astromech droid knew that only Obi-Wan Kenobi should hear the message, even though Luke wanted to hear the whole message and even though C-3PO was trying to help Luke get the whole message. Then, Luke wondered if this Obi-Wan Kenobi was the same person as a nearby hermit that he knew, named Ben Kenobi. During dinnertime, Luke sat with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, and first told them about the message that R2 carried for an Obi-Wan Kenobi. Owen wanted nothing to do with it, and being a moisture farmer, he did not want any higher entanglements of any kind and no involvement with the “wizard” Kenobi, and suggested that they erase the memories of the two droids before putting them to work. After all, the droids belonged to them now. Luke then asked them about him possibly going to the Academy (while actually considering the Rebellion). However, Owen firmly mentioned that he needed Luke’s help on the farmstead for at least one more season. Disappointed, Luke went to prepare the droids. Beru, who knew of Luke’s adventurous spirit, tried to calm things down and iterated that all of his friends had gone already, but Owen affirmed that at a later time, he could hire some farmhands. Generally, Luke often liked to watch the two suns set when nightfall came about—one sun and then very shortly the other. The setting suns turned the sand color from bright yellow to a dim red-orange before turning dark. As Luke knew of Tatooine’s past, Luke could not help but feel that within all that wasteland out there, once again plants will sprout, and then a lush green landscape will extend to the horizons. Certainly, his first visit to the aviary in the Bestine Museum reached him as he also imagined the birds singing and nesting in the trees, in which Luke wondered whether if they would all ever come back. Yet, there was another thought that Luke kept having. As he gazed upon the horizon, he always wondered what was out there in the space beyond his monotonous life as a moisture farmer on this desert planet. Still as he watched Tatoo I and Tatoo II sink below the horizon, Luke increasingly felt uncomfortably unfulfilled in his life. Though this feeling was not uncommon for those about to enter early-adulthood, Luke’s unfulfillment was very strong but he could not understand why. It was at least why he kept himself very busy on the farmstead, and jumping on every opportunity to have even the smallest of adventures (though safe adventures) in his freetime. 

However, when Luke went back to the garage in the farmstead when it was getting dark outside, he found C-3PO hiding behind the T-16 skyhopper, while the droid was feeling bad of what just happened and asking Luke not to deactivate him. Luke found out from the protocol droid that R2-D2 had set forth on his mission that he had to complete without question, all by himself. The astromech droid now had no restraining bolt to keep him in close vicinity to his new owners. So, R2 went forth out of the farmstead and off to the horizon. C-3PO tried to talk him out of it, but he could not convince him otherwise. Luke Skywalker, armed with his goggles and his hand-me-down blaster rifle, ascended the steps with 3PO from the courtyard to the surface again. Luke still kept his goggles with him in case of an unexpected sand gust, and carried his rifle in case if there were Sandpeople awaiting to charge at Luke. Sandpeople preferred not to enter occupied dwellings, but still never hesitated to attack and slay anyone outside the dwelling’s doors. Nonetheless, no Sandpeople were in the Lars farmstead’s immediate vicinity. Luke scanned the surface with his electrobinoculars, but R2-D2 already ventured far out of sight. The protocol droid suggested that they immediately set out to find the astromech droid, but Luke warned of Sandpeople, who were very violent against anyone who was not one of them; and that it would be far too dangerous to venture out at night. The night’s approaching cold started making him feel a bit physically uncomfortable and Owen shut down the power for the night as well. So, Luke and C-3PO went back downstairs to the courtyard. Before Luke went to bed, he wondered if he should just ignore the holographic message to this Obi-Wan Kenobi, but something urged him to find more about this message and this woman asking for this Obi-Wan Kenobi's help.

The astromech droid R2-D2 went forward in the cold night. Around him was a lot of mist and some frost on the surface, and as he progressed on the plateau towards the Jundland Wastes, he noticed that some mist was heavily concentrated, and such to the point where it temporarily obscured his vision. R2-D2 waited in his tracks until he could see again, and then moved forward. R2-D2 heard various animal sounds, but encountered no Tatooinian animal except for a few cemaths scurrying about and few jakrabs hopping about and looking for razor mosses. More luckily, R2-D2 encountered no Jawa nor Sandperson (the latter of which he still had to learn). Luke, before he left at the break of down, knew about this responsibility to help Owen today, but somehow there was this uncontrollable urge to set forth for R2-D2 for another purpose besides that for the farmstead. When the suns rose, Owen Lars stormed to the kitchen, where Beru was preparing breakfast with some blue milk for her and him. Owen with some anger asked Beru of Luke’s whereabouts, and Beru calmly answered that Luke had headed out on his landspeeder to take care of some personal errands and that he likely took the droids with him. Owen was not pleased for he needed a lot of help on the farm today and expressed that everything that Owen needed to get done had to be done by midday. Luke and C-3PO, using a droid detector on his landspeeder, headed southwest through the Jundland Wastes towards the Western Dune Sea. Luke also knew that Ben Kenobi lived in this area that they were heading towards. However, Sandpeople, led by their tribal leader UroRRuR'R'R, were watching Luke on his landspeeder from afar. These Sandpeople at first were going to snipe Luke’s landspeeder with their blaster rifles, but UroRRuR'R'R realized that they would likely miss because Luke was too far. So, they mounted their banthas and began pursuit. Eventually, Luke and C-3PO found R2-D2, who was still diligently trying to find Obi-Wan Kenobi; and the astromech droid knew that Obi-Wan Kenobi was near, as if he could sense Kenobi presence. Even C-3PO criticized R2-D2 for leaving the farmstead. Though Luke and the two droids were reunited again, Luke realized that Sandpeople were also near as R2 started beeping warning whistles. So, the three traveled on the landspeeder to what Luke thought was a safer spot in the Jundland Wastes. Luke saw banthas at a distance through his electrobinoculars and a Sandperson with them. However, immediately came another Sandperson, UroRRuR'R'R, right in front of them. Startled, C-3PO accidentally backed away but then fell down a sandhill. UroRRuR'R'R swung his gaffi stick at Luke, who blocked the strike with this primitive blaster rifle, but the gaffi stick broke the rifle in the clash. The Sandperson then struck Luke in the side with the club-side of his stick, causing Luke to fall. Then, UroRRuR'R'R tried to whack Luke on the head with his gaffi stick repetitively while Luke rolled on the ground, trying to dodge the strikes of the club-side of the gaffi stick. Then, the Sandperson managed to strike Luke on the head, forcing him to fall unconscious. UroRRuR'R'R raised his stick over his head with his two hands, chanting and dancing in triumph. R2-D2 in this midst of the attack crept between sandstone rocks to protect himself. Afterwards, UroRRuR'R'R and another Sandperson of his tribe took the unconscious Luke and tossed him aside, while they and a third Sandperson started seeing what they could take for themselves from Luke’s landspeeder. Suddenly, a loud trumpeting call came about, which startled UroRRuR'R'R and the other two Sandpeople away immediately. The call was an imitation of a krayt dragon, coming from a cloaked, elderly Human. He was none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi. He first called out for R2-D2, while assuring the droid that he was not harmful. Obi-Wan and R2 actually recognized each other, but both of them did not want to admit it. He then helped Luke regain his consciousness and asked him of his business out here. Luke immediately asked, whom he saw as Ben Kenobi, about an Obi-Wan Kenobi as a possible relative of his. Obi-Wan revealed that he was that person, who did not go by that name for a long time, to a surprised Luke. Obi-Wan coaxed Luke for them to leave the area because Sandpeople, even if startled away, come back in greater numbers. They first quickly went for C-3PO, who had lost one of his arms in the fall. Obi-Wan then offered Luke a visit to his own home, where he could help repair the droid’s arm, and to finally reveal to Luke about his true self, particularly since Luke mentioned that this astromech droid had a message for him. Obi-Wan knew that this day would come. 

The Jawa sandcrawler, in which the residing Jawa clan was involved in the Lars’ purchase of the droids, just left Bestine earlier that day after selling some more droids, equipment and spare parts, and making more money. There were only a little more than a hundred Jawas as some of Dathcha's clan were out in the municipal marketplaces and many more stayed in the clan's mountain fortress on Jawarundiu. Dathcha allowed many of his clan to stay at the fortress because he did not have much to sell and he planned a shorter circuit before rejoining and settling with the rest of the clan for a while. However, at the start of all this mayhem, Captain Prestelk ordered his troops to ambush and destroy all the scouting pods and killing their Jawa pilots before taking on the sandcrawler that Dathcha led. On the plateaus, Dathcha’s sandcrawler was soon suddenly approached by Captain Prestelk and his large platoon of sandtroopers, mounted on their dewbacks. Prestelk ordered the sandcrawler to stop. The Jawa sandcrawlers were not equipped with armaments, but Dathcha (whom with the two drivers saw the troopers from the control cabin windows) felt that their sandcrawler was too big and imposing for an Imperial infantry unit to hold up. Also, Dathcha wondered where were the ten of their scouting pods for their sandcrawler. Nonetheless, it was never once known that Imperial troops tried to hold up a Jawa sandcrawler. So, Dathcha’s sandcrawler kept on its way, ignoring the sandtroopers. Big mistake. The sandtroopers opened fire on the four double-sets of caterpillar tracks until they blasted apart many track plates, which then fully immobilized the sandcrawler. Captain Prestelk now ordered the Jawas to come out of the sandcrawler or they will blast-enter their vehicle and kill everyone. This time, the Jawas obeyed. The roughly hundred Jawas all came out obediently and clustered in five rows to the sandtroopers. Captain Prestelk with a Jawaese translator questioned Dathcha on whether they had found droids recently. Dathcha replied yes and even revealed that the droids were of a protocol and an astromech type, and a more detailed description of both of them, and that they sold them to a moisture farmer family named Lars. The lead Jawa, whom felt that he had now obliged to the Imperial troops, questioned on why they had to disable their sandcrawler, when all they were doing was salvaging and business. Captain Prestelk answered with his blaster rifle, killing Dathcha on the spot. All the other Jawas started yelling " _Utinni_!" and were screaming in terror, while many were huddling among each other. Ten Jawas started reaching into their pockets, while trying to hide what they were doing. The other sandtroopers then pulled all the remaining Jawas apart from each other and ordered them to remain in row. Many were still as frightened as they could be as Captain Prestelk gave an order to his platoon. Prestelk said to kill all of them. The sandtroopers without question opened fire on the Jawas. Many screamed and tried to run in sheer disorder, but the sandtroopers were fast shooters. Some managed to make a small distance before sandtroopers killed them. Ten Jawas secretly had blasters, hidden in their cloaks. These Jawas killed seven sandtroopers in Prestelk’s platoon before the rest of the troops killed them. The Jawas were all falling down in their dark brown cloaks until the last one, trying to run off, met her fate from Prestelk’s own blaster. Before setting off for the Lars farmstead, Captain Prestelk ordered his remaining platoon to shoot the sandcrawler with their blaster cannons (that could pierce the armor) until it would be nothing but a smoking scrapheap, which they ensured. Prestelk ordered one of his troops to use one of the dewbacks to transport their fallen comrades back to Bestine, which then commenced. Then, suddenly, Sandpeople riding banthas in single file from afar, approaching the sandcrawler wreckage. Captain Prestelk correctly assumed that they were coming to raid the wreckage for any needed items. So, he ordered his remaining platoon to hide until they approached. The troops also led their dewbacks to a hidden area behind the destroyed sandcrawler. Twenty Sandpeople arrived and the one in the lead ordered the rest to stop and dismount, and investigate. Before embarking on raiding the sandcrawler wreckage, they inspected the dead Jawas. Even though Sandpeople were violent themselves, they could not help but wonder just who did this and start discussing this. Then, Prestelk gave an order for his troops to step out of their covers and shoot. The Sandpeople were caught be sheer surprise, and the troops killed many Sandpeople before they could even react. The few that had rifles tried to shoot but were shot first. Two remaining Sandpeople dropped their gaffi sticks and knelt and raised their hands in the air, while Captain Prestelk and the remaining troopers approached them. Prestelk had an idea. He ordered the two surviving Sandpeople to take one of their banthas and transport the dead Sandpeople away from the scene, but ordered them to leave the dropped gaffi sticks and blaster rifles. Without reluctance, the two Sandpeople obliged and did as told. The sandtroopers held the bridles of the other banthas, which had been grunting in fear while trying to back away from the scene. Captain Prestelk gave a short lecture in which they had to cover their actions so that local Jawas and moisture farmers would not be alarmed that an Imperial assault took place, while making the scene look like a Jawa-Sandperson conflict. Finally, Captain Prestelk ordered a few of his platoon to take the remaining banthas (to be of their own service work) to the Imperial headquarters in Bestine. The troops led the banthas away in a loose cluster. Then, Captain Prestelk ordered the remaining sandtroopers, whom were still many in his platoon, to mount their dewbacks to the Lars moisture farmstead. 

Now a group of four—two Humans and two droids—were in the landspeeder as Luke drove everyone to the isolated but secure home of Obi-Wan Kenobi. First they fully repaired C-3PO’s arm, but then, Obi-Wan finally revealed to Luke of his father, who was a Jedi (and an accomplished pilot), and that Obi-Wan himself was an exiled Jedi as well. The Jedi then mentioned that he and Luke’s father fought together in the Clone Wars, which also intrigued Luke. Obi-Wan then mentioned that Owen Lars wished that Luke’s father should have stayed on Tatooine and not gotten involved in the Wars, as Luke now started learning of his father’s true life. Obi-Wan also showed Luke his father’s lightsaber—a Jedi’s weapon of choice, and which also most certainly intrigued Luke as he tried it out. Kenobi also mentioned that metaphorically Darth Vader, a Sithlord, murdered his father as a good person, though he did not reveal that Darth Vader himself was actually Luke’s father until Luke was ready to know. Surprisingly, Luke was not too distraught with all of these revelations about himself and his never-known father. Luke, after all, always had his uncle and aunt on the moisture farm as his only known family. The protocol droid requested to shut off for a while to save some energy, since Luke did not need him for the moment. Kenobi revealed that he was an exiled Jedi to Luke, and also started teaching Luke about the Force and the Jedi Order, in which there was once this thriving order for thousands of years, but also which had almost gone fully extinct. The astromech droid then reminded everyone of his mission to Obi-Wan Kenobi, so R2-D2 finally played the full holographic message from Princess Leia Organa to Obi-Wan Kenobi with Luke watching as well. It was an unmistakable call for help for Kenobi to come to help her and her father Bail Organa on the Core World of Alderaan, where they hailed; and that R2-D2 was carrying something very important in their fight against the Empire. As the message ended, Obi-Wan Kenobi now realized that Leia was almost fully grown and now was actively in the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic against the Sithlord-led Galactic Empire. Obi-Wan Kenobi now mentioned to Luke that he had to travel to the planet Alderaan to help Bail and Leia Organa, and that Luke must accompany him. Certainly, Obi-Wan Kenobi felt that now was the time to let the Force-sensitive Luke Skywalker learn the ways of the Force and ensure that Luke would not wind up following the Dark Side path of his father, which he knew could easily happen. Also, Obi-Wan told Luke that he needed a young person to help him in his more advanced age. Though there was a part in Luke that wanted to do this, Luke immediately refused, considering that he was going to probably face the biggest punishment from his Uncle Owen yet for disappearing for most of the day like this, though he also mentioned that he had absolutely no affinity for the Empire at least. Luke then kindly offered to take Obi-Wan to Anchorhead, but that was all that Luke could do. Luke then proposed that Obi-Wan take a transport to Mos Eisley to find a spacepilot for hire. Obi-Wan, in an attempt not to pressure Luke, only told Luke that the young man must do what he felt was right. Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi also did not pressure Luke when Luke announced that he could only take the aged Jedi to Anchorhead and nothing more. 

Owen Lars went about replenishing evaporated water for the hydroponic jars, angrily thinking about Luke’s postponed absence from his duties at home and what to do to punish his nephew. Luke had to be punished more severely this time, since Luke was perhaps out having more adventures, even without his T-16. Beru Lars was in the midst of removing garbage from the kitchen and from the other rooms, throwing them in the dumpster. Suddenly, more uniformed figures stood on the surface at the edge of the courtyard, spotting Beru doing her work. They were all armed with blaster rifles. Beru turned her head up in shock as the sandtroopers pointed their rifles down at her. She froze instinctively, even though they ordered her to do so. The lead sandtrooper, Captain Prestelk, asked her if anyone else was there. Beru replied yes, and asked him if she could get her husband from the hydroponic farm chamber. Prestelk replied that it would not be necessary. More sandtroopers blasted their way through the entry door at the dome at the surface, and hurried down into the courtyard. Four of them quickly entered the farm chamber. Beru heard some yells, but then immediately afterwards, two came out, and then the other two held Owen by the arms on both sides. Two other sandtroopers then forced Beru by the arms to kneel next to her husband. Now, all the sandtroopers came to the courtyard and most surrounded Owen and Beru, who now also had their hands behind their heads. A few other sandtroopers had orders to search the entire farmstead. Captain Prestelk approached before them and strictly ordered them to not speak unless asked to speak during their interrogation session. Owen and Beru were willing to cooperate. The sandtroopers got information from Owen and Beru, such as who they were along with telling about their nephew Luke, how long they lived on Tatooine as moisture farmers, and of the recent purchase of the protocol droid C-3PO and the astromech droid R2-D2 from visiting Jawas, who did business with them. Other sandtroopers then quickly rejoined their fellow troops and mentioned to the leader that by the looks of the livingquarters, three people lived in the farmstead, and that the garage had an empty space. Prestelk asked of this, and Owen and Beru obligatorily mentioned that Luke had taken a landspeeder out and took the droids that with him. Prestelk and the other sandtroopers, perceived this as an escape, and now clutched their rifles more firmly than before, while Owen and Beru had bigger reasons to be afraid. Captain Prestelk asked them where was this Luke and the two droids. Pleading in desperation, the moisture farmer couple iterated that they did not know and that they were supposed to return before midday today. The sandtroopers gave each other glances, and then Captain Prestelk looked back down at the couple, and slowly shook his head at them, while raising his rifle. Beru pleaded with Captain Prestelk not to kill them, while Owen offered him and his wife to be held as prisoners rather than be killed. Prestelk only replied that their deaths needed to happen because they, for all the troops knew, were abetting their escaping nephew. Owen’s and Beru’s stomachs were turning upside-down, then they gave each other a look, and both read each other’s thoughts. The couple quickly raised themselves to their feet and darted for the staircase that led to the surface. Owen gave a strong push to one of the sandtroopers to make an escape route for him and his wife, forcing the trooper to the ground. Fearing that his life was going to suddenly end now, while both ran, Owen brought Beru in front of him in a last effort to protect his wife. Prestelk and the others opened fire on Owen, killing him fast as they shot him in the back. Beru made it to the staircase and started upwards. The sandtroopers quickly followed. Beru reached the surface with her arms raised, screaming for mercy as she tried to run away, but the troopers showed no mercy. They shot her in the back as well, and she fell lifelessly forward to the ground with her arms outstretched. Of course, the sandtroopers were to leave this farmstead and continue their search for the droids and now this Luke. However, Captain Prestelk ordered his platoon to leave a very big message and destroy the farmstead and burn the now-dead moisture farmers, just in case if Luke were to return in the troops’ absence. Surely, they wanted to strike a lot of fear in Luke as he would know that he would definitely be their next target at the moment when he would see all of this. So the sandtroopers opened fire and destroyed everything in the farmstead, destroying the remaining family landspeeder and the T-16 skyhopper in the garage, trashing the courtyard, shooting and destroying the hydroponic farm chamber, shooting and destroying the two maintenance droids, trashing the bedrooms, and destroying the kitchen. Then, they set fire to anything that could burn, and anything that can burn was now well-aflame. Almost nothing was spared, and the troops even blasted holes in the entrance dome, though the dome itself remained intact. The surface-level moisture vaporators also remained intact only because the sandtroopers did not bother to destroy them as well as they were more out of the way. The sandtroopers then dragged Owen’s body up the stairs and tossed it next to that of his wife with Owen’s body landing ventrally. Captain Prestelk personally lit the flame that burned their bodies. The troopers all gathered around and watched silently and sadistically until only two charred skeletons remained as the flames finally died down. Not a single trooper even wondered if this was excessive cruelty.

En route to Anchorhead, Luke, Obi-Wan, C-3PO and R2-D2 on Luke’s landspeeder traversed the Jundland Wastes and then reached the plateaus. They drove by a bantha herd, a pile of rocks where worrts awaited their prey in the shade, and some hopping womp rats. The twin suns were reaching the high point in the sky. However, they saw a smoking dark, immobile, large object in the distance and decided to investigate. Soon enough, the four stumbled upon the wreckage of a Jawa sandcrawler. The sandcrawler, despite its immense size, was scrapheap with very noticeable damage with a few pillars of smoke heading upward. Around the sandcrawler lay about a hundred dead Jawas as their scattered bodies littered the sand, outside of their land vehicle. Luke upon closer inspection also saw some lying gaffi sticks and bantha tracks, although Luke never heard of Sandpeople taking on such an assault of this magnitude. Yet, Luke immediatly assumed that it had to have been the Sandpeople that did this. Obi-Wan Kenobi pointed to Luke that the bantha tracks were in a cluster and not in single-file as Sandpeople obediently rode their banthas when traveling in a group. Kenobi correctly theorized that this was the work of Imperial stormtroopers, who could only do this much damage on Tatooine. Kenobi also correctly theorized that after the stormtroopers killed the Jawas and destroyed this sandcrawler, they then intercepted a traveling group of Sandpeople on their banthas; and after killing the Sandpeople, they took their banthas as well. Luke then looked downward at the deceased Jawas and actually recognized the lead Jawa, Dathcha. Luke then realized that these Jawas were the same Jawas who sold C-3PO and R2-D2 to him and his family on their farmstead. Luke in a conerned manner then asked why would Imperial stormtroopers want to slaughter these Jawas. Kenobi did not answer for he felt that Luke must realize why himself. Luke turned his head to the two droids, who were also inspecting the dead Jawas. Something then hit Luke, which made him realize that somehow these two droids were no ordinary droids, and were likely wanted droids by the Empire. Luke now realized something else more alarming. Luke admitted out loud to Obi-Wan that if Imperial troops were able to trace the droids’ steps to these Jawas, then they would be able to trace the steps to his home! Panic-stricken, Luke immediately ran to his landspeeder and went forth despite Obi-Wan’s objections, citing that heading back would be too dangerous for Luke. Luke sped home like he never did before in his life. Thinking of nothing but his uncle and aunt, Luke maneuvered around rock formations and more bantha herds without lessening any speed as his heart raced.

Luke sped towards his family farmstead, but on the horizon, there were some pillars of smoke. Luke knew that there were no volcanoes on Tatooine, so he already started fearing the worst. Yet still, he still hoped for the best as he imagined himself beating the Imperial troops to his home, and then persuading his uncle and aunt to join him and flee the farmstead. As Luke fully approached the farmstead, sure enough, those pillars of smoke were from the now-destroyed Lars farmstead and his only home. Yet, all he could think about was his uncle and aunt. He parked his speeder, jumped out, and called out for them as he walked towards the laser-blasted entrance dome, but then he stopped in his tracks as he saw the charred skeletons of his uncle and aunt, right there just outside the dome. Tears rushed to Luke’s eyes as Luke was fully stunned, and then he fell face-down into the sand. At that moment, he did not care if there were the same Imperial troops, lying in ambush, ready to kill him as well. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru together was his only known family, and the only family with whom he spent all of his life thus far. Still face down, Luke banged his fists in the sand, while gasping in sheer sadness. Then, Luke got back up to his feet, and yelled out loud that this was not fair. Luke and his uncle and aunt were just moisture farmers, living an honest life. Then he yelled that if the Imperial forces wanted the droids, he and his family would have just obliged and handed them over to them. With tears still flowing, Luke approached the charred remains of his uncle and aunt, knelt next to them, and deeply apologized to them, while reassuring that this whole mess was not their fault. Luke ended by saying that he always loved them and that they were always a good uncle and aunt to him. Luke then peeked in the courtyard from above, and yes everything was destroyed and ruined, even his prized T-16. It was like the Imperial troops were trying to destroy everything that Luke ever had in life as well as Luke’s fond memories as well. However, Luke definitely understood the Imperial force’s message, aimed directly at him. He then realized that the Imperial troops were not around as he first thought. Luke then remembered seeing Imperial troops at work in Bestine and in the city's Museum, keeping order in a good manner, a couple of years ago. However, there was most definitely and undoubtedly a much more dangerous, ruthless, brutal, and ugly side to these Imperial troops; and Luke's uncle and aunt sadly and wrongfully had to fully suffer from this with their lives. With brand new heightened disdain for the Empire, Luke fully self-rescinded his earlier announcement that he and his family would have handed over the droids—not only because the Empire would have had what they wanted, but also because even if there was a peaceful handover, the Imperial troops would have likely brutally killed Luke and his family anyway, as they did to the Jawas. Then, Luke knew that he had to return to his new mentor and fast. As much as he would have wanted to at least bury his only two known family members, Luke did not do so because other moisture farmers in the community would then soon learn of the Empire’s tyrannical actions, which was what Luke wanted to happen. Luke saw the destroyed Wed-15 maintenance droid, and then turned to see the still-intact moisture vaporators on the surface. Luke then realized that his life on the moisture farm on the sandy planet was really fully over. A thousand thoughts rushed through Luke as he put his hands on his forehead. Luke then jumped back into his landspeeder and hurried back to Obi-Wan Kenobi, and did not look back at all. Luke, after all, was going to have a major life change, starting now. As Luke sped away, a long-snouted, insectivorous Kubaz from the planet Kubindi, named Garindan, who wore a dark cloak, stood up from his hiding place behind a pile of rocks at a short distance, while keeping a close watch on Luke. All Kubazes wore goggles on Tatooine because their eyes were more sensitive to sand particles than those from many other species; and this Kubaz set out to follow Luke, keeping him in view through his goggles, while enjoying some insects—the favorite food of his species.

Luke returned on his landspeeder to the wreck of the sandcrawler, where Obi-Wan, C-3PO and R2-D2 remained. Obi-Wan and 3PO started a fire to cremate the Jawas as instructed by Obi-Wan to give the Jawas an impromptu funeral. C-3PO was in the middle of bringing the Jawa bodies to the fire. Obi-Wan, despite his longtime Jedi teachings on letting go of those who may pass, could not help but feel very relieved upon Luke’s return, and Obi-Wan knew that he had just become Luke’s full mentor now. Obi-Wan in a comforting manner mentioned to Luke that he would have been killed too had he remained with his uncle and aunt at home, and that there was nothing that he could have done. Luke sadly agreed. As unfortunate as it was, Obi-Wan very much knew of the Empire’s tyranny. Then Obi-Wan mentioned that the droids would also have been in the Empire’s hands, had things gone differently. If the Empire had the droids, this would have certainly hindered the Rebel cause. This was where Luke Skywalker announced his new journey in life and accepted his upcoming travel with Obi-Wan Kenobi to the planet Alderaan. Luke, Obi-Wan and C-3PO quickly finished cremating the dead Jawas and held a funerary vigil for them; and then off they went via Luke’s landspeeder. The four stopped at the safe capital city of Bestine for an overnight stay. Luke felt afraid, since now he was wanted by the Imperial troops, but staying in Bestine would give him at least some comfort. The large city traffic served as a good cover for the group. The next morning came, and as the four went, they encountered other moisture-farm communities and the occasional hopping womp rat. Luke certainly hoped that they would not encounter any Imperial troops. Obi-Wan and Luke made a quick stop at a cliff within the eastern border of the Jundland Wastes, overlooking Mos Eisley—a city of “scum and villainy” as Obi-Wan put it to Luke. However, as the only major spaceport city on Tatooine, this was the only place where they could have a good chance of finding a readily available spacepilot to help them travel to Alderaan to help the cause of Princess Leia and the Rebel Alliance. Luke was ready for anything and he had to be, and so the four headed towards the city down Sluuce Canyon. As they approached the city limits, there were eopies, jakrabs, anoobas, and scurriers about. As the group entered the city on Luke’s landspeeder, they immediately passed by a parked GR-45 medium transport, that was illegally parked alongside an entrance road because the ship was too big for any of the city’s docking bays. Mos Eisley had certainly grown from its original wheel-shaped town over two hundred fifty years; and now there were noticeably more avenues and structures in the city, though it was only the third-most-populous on Tatooine. Many landspeeders (particularly the popular Bespin Motors Void Spider TX-3, the Ubrickkian 9000 Z001, the Mobquet Deluxe A-1, and the SoroSuub XP-38 landspeeders) as well as rontos, banthas, jerbas and dewbacks as beasts of burden for Jawas and some Humans and other sentient species traversed the two-lane streets. Many ASP-7 labor droids (manufactured by Industrial Automation and popularly used both for lifting, carrying, as well as for transporting heavy and cumbersome objects, and also for household cleaning) worked on the city streets and on docking stations. A few speederbikes startled some slightly poor-eyesighted rontos, forcing their Jawa riders to fall off their saddles at intersections. The Empire recently constructed a new Imperial base in Mos Eisley, which was quite impressive in size and appearance, but Imperial-troop patrols to police the city were still far few. There was even an arena, where many different extreme fights between sentient beings, between sentient vs. animal, or between animals took place. Jabba the Hutt had a private box in the arena as Jabba invested a lot in the arena and always cashed in most of the proceeds for himself. Many would have found this type of fight arena as immoral, but this was Mos Eisley, and fights in the arena like these still attracted paying attendees. Some Neimoidians, even after the collapse of the once-powerful Trade Federation after the Clone Wars and the Separatist Movement, rarely traveled; but some Neimoidians still wanted to practice business on Tatooine and thus founded stores to run in this city. In Mos Eisley, there was also a religious monastic order with a monastery, that exiled Sandpeople founded. These Sandpeople were the only Sandpeople that went to live in a Tatooinian municipality; and they adopted new and different protective clothing that mainly involved beige-colored hooded-robes, made from bantha hide. These roughly one hundred Sandperson monks comprised the Dim-U Order (named after the two founding families of Sandpeople, the Dim'UmuRR and the UuLe'U'BaR families), and these monks were dedicated to peaceful living, and they worshiped banthas as deities. Furthermore, the Sandperson monks of the Dim-U Order remained inside their monastery during the day, and only came outside in the early-mornings and the late-evenings. Tatooine’s customs bureau in Mos Eisley was still not strict, when it came to imports of any kind. Not surprisingly, black-market goods flowed both into and out of Tatooine through Mos Eisley regularly every day; and though there were some honest businesses, dishonest businesses were still rampant in the spaceport city. Criminal activities were still prevalent in Mos Eisley as well. As the Jedi, his new apprentice, and the two droids traveled down Straight Street, several Imperial sandtroopers from two platoons at a checkpoint stopped the speeder for questioning. The leads were none other than Captain Prestelk along with Captain Bulti. Prestelk asked Obi-Wan and Luke of how long they had these two droids. Luke casually replied a few seasons, while Obi-Wan iterated that the droids were not for sale if they wanted them. However, Luke’s heartbeat sped up and his stomach turned when Prestelk asked Luke for his identification. Yet immediately Obi-Wan, using his Jedi mind trickery, made the troopers think and say that they do not need to see Luke’s identification, that these two droids were not the droids that they were looking for, and that Luke and Obi-Wan could go about their business, and that they could move along. Captain Prestelk practically mimicked by word everything Obi-Wan said to him. As the four proceeded after Prestelk allowed them to do so as he waved his hand to motion them, Luke now learned from Obi-Wan about how the Force could have influence over the weak-minded. A relieved Luke now felt that he had a protector. 

Across the street from the Mos Eisley Cantina lay a junkpile, which was a place where discarded metallic objects (big and small) lay. These discarded metallic objects were also free for anyone’s taking, even though few objects at the junkpile had potential to be useful. Yet, in that same area, there was a place to park Luke’s landspeeder (as well as a place for beasts of burden such as dewbacks, banthas, and rontos to rest while hitched), as the four went towards the Mos Eisley Cantina that Chalmun the Wookiee still owned and operated. Obi-Wan Kenobi knew that the likelihood for finding a spacepilot for hire was high in this very cantina. Obi-Wan warned Luke about the roughness of the cantina as well, as they walked past a few Jawas resting in the shade just outside the entrance doors. As they entered, a band, named Figrin D’An and the Modal Nodes, played in the Mos Eisley Cantina. The band’s five members were all of the Bith species with large eggheads and with black eyes from the planet Chak’dor VII. The members all wore the same uniformed clothes. The bandleader, Figrin D’An, played the melodious kloo horn, while three other members played other wind instruments and one more played the percussion. Figrin D'An and his band received offers to play in Jabba’s Palace, but they all were too smart to fall for that trap. Yet, the band was very willing to accept Chalmun's offer. The bar was packed with patrons of numerous different species from Tatooine and from many different planets, including some Humans and Jawas. These individuals of different species from different planets were either residents of Mos Eisley, of another Tatooinian municipality or community, or spacefaring visitors—whether frequent or infrequent. For instance, there was an Arconan named Hem Dazon, who was originally stranded on Tatooine when his shipped crashed, and so lived in Mos Eisley and had a service shop for landspeeders and other small equipment. Dazon was at the Cantina, taking a break; and he loved salt to the point of being addicted to it. There were Brea and Senni Tonnika, who were twin-sister, near-Human Kiffus from the planet Kiffex, and were both dark-haired and beautiful. They were both con-artists, whose plans were scamming money from unsuspecting victims. The Tonnika sisters became wanted when they conned an Imperial officer of a lot of money, and now they were in hiding. There was Muftak, who was a Talz from the planet Orto Plutonia, and that was large and white-shaggy-furred and roughly humanoid with four eyes (two each suited for seeing in the day and the night) and with a small proboscis, which enabled talking in one pitch and in fast syllables. Muftak grew up on Mos Eisley, Tatooine, and did not know much of his past. He worked odd jobs in the city and he liked to frequent the Mos Eisley Cantina. Muftak’s companion was Kabe, a female, 1m-tall Chadra-Fan from the planet Chadra with a porcine appearance. Both regularly hung out together in Mos Eisley’s docking-bay tunnels; and Kabe practiced pickpocketing and gambling a lot. There was Momaw Nadon, an Ithorian (Hammerhead) from the planet Ithor with a long, thick, flat neck and with two side-protruding eyes on his hammer-like head and two mouths on the sides of the base of the neck. He like most Ithorians were peaceful farmers on their planet until the Empire took over. Momaw Nadon was a Rebel sympathizer, who helped hide fleeing Rebels in Mos Eisley. There was also Kardue’sai’Malloc, a Devaronian—a humanoid with two large, curved horns from the planet Devaronia. Kardue, once an army captain on his home planet, became a spy for the Empire in which Rebel uprisings were quashed, thanks to this Devaronian who leaked information to the Imperial forces. At the bar sat Dannik Jerriko, who was a near-Human Anzati from the planet Anzatia. He like his species could live up to a thousand years, and he liked many drinks at the Cantina and smoked pipes when given the chance. Jerriko was also a wanted criminal for smuggling anything that was related to soup, which was his favorite nourishment, next to various drinks. Also at the bar sat an upper-middle-age Human, who was originally from the planet Bimm. His name was Rycar Ryjerd, who worked as a trader almost all of his life; and he was the first Human to speak fluent Jawaese as well as Basic as he regularly traded with the Jawas. Also at the Cantina were two Duros—a husband and wife spacepilot team—named Ellorrs and Chaltu Madak, sitting at a table, involved in a slight argument in Bocce on which of their latest assignments were of higher priority. The Duro couple frequently did any transporting of either people and/or cargo, and they often flew on important trade routes to other planets. At a table was the bulbous-headed and pointy-eared Sakiyan from the planet Sakiya. The Sakiyan was Djas Puhr, and he was very intelligent while almost always carrying a serious look on his face, and he worked as a bounty hunter, being highly skilled in firing blasters with both hands. At the bar was Hrchek Kal Fas, a reptilian Saurin with a slightly long snout from the planet Durkteel, who worked in Mos Eisley as a droid trader. He also saw the wanted poster for C-3PO and R2-D2 but just missed the two droids as they left before he came to the bar. Two Gotals from the moon Antar 4, which orbited the planet Antar, sat in a booth laughing together while drunk. They were Hosikik and Fopitop Cevulkulk, whom were both brothers. Gotals were hairy humanoids with two upward-pointing horns each and with flat noses. Enjoying his drink at a table was Lak Sirvak, a wolflike-humanoid Shistavanen from the planet Uvena, who despite his frightening appearance, was good-natured and was a Rebel sympathizer. He also became wanted when he helped a Rebel colony escape pursuing Imperial stormtroopers and had been considering joining the Rebel Alliance himself. Enjoying a drink at the bar was Nabrun Leids, a Morseerian from the planet Mern. He like all of his species were reptilian-humanoid with orange skin and a back-pointing conical head. All Morseerians could only breathe methane, and so they each required a methane-filled tank and a breathing apparatus in oxygenated atmospheres. Leids was a spacepilot for hire, but he had just found a customer for his transport services, and was ready to go in an hour. A Yam’rii, named Kitik Keed’kak, a mantis-like insectoid species from the planet Lukk, was present too. She possessed a lot of knowledge in technology and she was a regular patron of the Cantina as a resident of Mos Eisley. Keed’kak also preferred to wear her leathered skirts to her frequent places. Also at the Cantina was the Jawa named Het Nkik, who was of Dathcha’s clan and was Dathcha’s nephew, and he was with his wife Gaa Nkik as they were selling goods in Mos Eisley when Prestelk's sandtroopers killed their entire clan. The husband-and-wife Jawas sat at a table alone, wanting to do something to avenge this awful tyrannical act to their clan by the Empire, after they heard of this through the grapevine of what had happened. 

At first, C-3PO and R2-D2 were ordered by the Human bartender Wuher Stonemover to wait outside, since the cantina (as modest-sized as it was) had no room for droids who could not enjoy drinks. Luke asked the two droids to oblige and therefore they left and waited at the landspeeder. Durkteel just missed the two droids as they left before he came to the bar. Wuher, who was often grumpy now, secretly wished that he could leave the desert planet for new opportunities. Obi-Wan Kenobi first encountered BoShek Toomett, a Human from Corellia who was a well-experienced spacepilot for hire, to see if he could take himself and Luke to Alderaan. BoShek politely replied that he was also currently booked, but he directed Kenobi to Han Solo and Chewbacca, who were free for hire at the moment. Obi-Wan Kenobi thanked BoShek and encountered Chewbacca the Wookiee, who was at the bar, on the possibility to transport himself and Luke to Alderaan. Luke sat at the bar and ordered water, trying to make sense of his new life that started just now. All of a sudden, a drunken and violent pirate gave Luke a malicious shove, and already viewed Luke as an easy target. Luke tried to ignore the shove. Then, the slightly facially disfigured Dr. Cormatog Evazan, a Human from the planet Alsakan, approached Luke also in a malicious fashion. Dr. Evazan was once a licensed doctor and a practicing physician on Alsakan but became horribly mad and then started murdering random victims and experimented with their bodies, mutilating them. The right side of Dr. Evazan's face was also severely disfigured from a dangerous close-escape from a bounty hunter a while ago, involving flames. His pirate-partner, who just shoved Luke, was Ponda Baba, an Aqualish with two noticeable downward-protruding tusks from the planet Ando, and was both a pirate and a smuggler. When Dr. Evazan saved Ponda Baba’s life, using actual surgery to heal an infected internal organ, they became partners in crime, sometimes smuggling for Jabba the Hutt as well. However, they had something else in mind right now. Both the mad doctor and pirate announced that they plainly did not like Luke and announced that they were wanted criminals on many systems, and that they threatened to kill Luke to satisfy Evazan’s surgical madness and for the unfortunate sake of getting pleasure out of beating down someone. Luke was totally not prepared for such an encounter, but Obi-Wan stepped in and tried to calm down the two criminals by offering them a drink. However, Dr. Evazan threw Luke to the side, making him crash into a table, while the two drew their blasters at Kenobi. Though Wuher yelled for no blasters and ducked, they opened fire, only to have their laserbolts effortlessly deflected by Kenobi’s lightsaber. Kenobi knew someone very violent and destructive when he saw one, and unhesitantly sliced his sword through Dr. Evazan’s chest, and then severed the arm off of Ponda Baba before killing him as well with another quick swing. The whole cantina fell silent for a moment with everyone’s eyes on the Jedi, who finished the fight in seconds, before everyone started going back to their drinks, music, and conversations again. A customer at the cantina with a long nose and wearing goggles and a dark cloak silently left the cantina. It was Garindan and he immediately flagged down four patrolling sandtroopers, while also gesturing at the familiar landspeeder where C-3PO and R2-D2 were waiting. The protocol droid knew that trouble was brewing and decided to back away into Mos Eisley’s moving crowds. His astromech companion, though not wanting to break a conversation with another astromech droid, felt that he had to join 3PO after seeing the sandtroopers. Back at the cantina, Obi-Wan helped Luke to his feet with Luke assuring his mentor that he was okay. Obi-Wan then spoke of Chewbacca the Wookiee, whom he just met, about a likely hiring. The two then headed to the booth where Han Solo and Chewbacca sat. Han Solo made a formal introduction, and offered to take Luke and Obi-Wan and their two droids (and no cargo and "no questions asked") to Alderaan on his freighter, the _Millennium Falcon_ , but for a very high price of ten thousand credits. This high price was partially due to Obi-Wan mentioning that there also needed to be no entanglements with the Empire. Han also boasted of his freighter’s abilities and his piloting abilities as well. Though Luke almost angrily wanted to leave them since ten thousand credits could almost buy a small starship, Obi-Wan negotiated a payment plan, which Solo and Chewbacca agreed upon. It was paying two thousand credits now and then another fifteen thousand after reaching Alderaan. Han to Chewie in secret postulated that Luke and Obi-Wan must be really desperate. Maybe they were wanted by the Empire, which was a correct postulation. However, Han and Chewie accepted the offer, and mentioned to Luke and Obi-Wan to meet at Docking Bay 94 in the city. However, the Jedi and his mentor had to quickly leave when two Imperial sandtroopers (one being Captain Prestelk) entered the cantina. The bartender Wuher told them about the fight and the two dead bodies still lying on the floor, and where the victors of the fight were sitting. When the stormtroopers arrived at the particular booth, Han Solo and Chewbacca were only there now, and so the troops moved along. Han Solo and Chewbacca then started preparing to head off to ready their ship. The Tonnika sisters, Dannik Jerriko, Momaw Nadon, and Lak Sirvak all independently began to keep themselves in the darker areas of the cantina, as they crept out to make their escapes as well. Wuher then called for Sigthum to remove the bodies of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba, and to clean up the areas. 

Outside the cantina, Obi-Wan strongly suggested that Luke had to sell his landspeeder, but despite Luke spending a lot of time with his landspeeder, he obliged, thinking that he would never need to return to Tatooine again. They sold Luke’s landspeeder at Spaceport Speeders for only five hundred credits. The price was low because of the speeder’s visibly long and worn usage and because the popularity of the newer model, the SoroSuub X-38. Nevertheless, this payment along with Obi-Wan’s savings on Tatooine together made up the down payment for Han Solo’s transport service. Chewbacca left the cantina first and casually and went to ready the ship, and the Han Solo himself was going to leave. However, a Rodian named Greedo, who worked for Jabba the Hutt, held Han at blasterpoint at the cantina, and correctly cited Han for not paying Jabba his owed money. Han confidently assured that he was going to have the owed money available very soon. However, Greedo also attempted to coax Han to giving the owed money to Greedo himself so that the Rodian might “forget” that he found Han. Han would not do this, and so Greedo not only threatened his life but also threatened to take his freighter. However, as Han and Greedo continued to converse, Han was able to calm Greedo and then sneak his own blaster out of sight of the Rodian, and then shoot him, killing him instantly. Han Solo then simply walked out, tossing some money to Wuher the bartender, apologizing for the “mess” that he just made. Sigthum shook his head in frustration as he knew what he had to do next. Han Solo then rejoined his Wookiee first-mate outside and started making his way to Docking Bay 94, where his freighter, the _Millennium Falcon_ , awaited them. Who was near Han Solo and Chewbacca at the booth in the cantina was Takeel, a Snivvian from the planet Snivvia with grey skin, a very blunt nose, and protruding canine teeth. Takeel, who also frequented the Mos Eisley Cantina and loved spices on his food, often would do mercenary work for the Empire, exposing secretive Rebels. Takeel quickly informed Captain Prestelk and his companion (just catching them as they were leaving the cantina) that Han Solo and Chewbacca were going on a mission to avoid Imperial entanglements, which gave a hint to the sandtroopers. Takeel happily received a few dozen credits for this information. Captain Prestelk and all the sandtroopers started their pursuit of Han and his Wookiee companion as well. Captain Prestelk also requested the Imperial hover combat carrier from Mos Eisley's Imperial base to assist in finding their now-six wanted people and droids. The Imperial hover combat carrier was a two-person-crewed, low-hovering, swiftly-maneuvering, bulky and well-armored, and very heavily armed vehicle that also used repulsor coils to keep it aloft. The Imperial forces used the heavily feared hovering craft to restore order only when things went way out of line too much in Mos Eisley. Captain Prestelk felt that using this combat vehicle was going to be necessary again. 

Captain Prestelk and the other sandtrooper left the cantina and rejoined others of the platoon, now with the knowledge that important wanted people and droids were in their midst. They began patrolling the streets and alleys of Mos Eisley. The droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, hid in a stall in an alley, where by bad luck, the troopers started downward. The droids locked the door and remain silent. While the troopers inspected the alley, they found the stall where the droids were hiding, but with the door locked, they were dissuaded and moved onward. Luke and Obi-Wan headed towards Docking Bay 94, but Garindan was diligently following them from a reasonable distance. Jabba the Hutt along with many of his henchpeople, working for him, surrounded the _Millennium Falcon_ in Docking Bay 94, and called for Han Solo. Solo and Chewbacca just came through the entrance area, unarmed, and they made their presence. Jabba's henchpeople quickly turned around and raised their weapons, but thankfully there was only going to be talk. In a fatherly manner, Jabba came to Han asked why he had not yet paid him back for the spices that Han lost and why he killed Greedo. Han replied that Greedo was going to kill him as it really appeared to be so, while Jabba iterated that the Rodian was only going to remind him, though firmly so. Jabba then reassured that Han Solo was the best smuggler that he knew and that Han was of very valuable help, so nothing would have happened to Han. Han replied that Jabba should have seen him himself. Jabba then reminded Han of Han’s smuggling of the shipment of Jabba’s favorite spice (which was also of Jabba's possession) and that Han wrongfully jettisoned this shipment at the presence of an Imperial ship (with the reason being that he smuggled the spice from an Imperial Correction Facility on the planet Kessel). Han replied that he was going to be boarded by Imperial troops and that they were going to search his ship, and that he had no choice but to first jettison the spices in order to avoid arrest. Yet, Han confidently assured that he had a new assignment now, and that he would pay back Jabba plus a little extra for a little more time. Jabba only obliged because of Han Solo’s good reputation, but if Han were to disappoint him again, he would put a humongous price on his head. Han obliged as well, since Han confidently felt that he was going to get that payment and soon. Jabba the Hutt and Han Solo parted ways for now, and Jabba called upon his henchpeople to move along. Some of Jabba’s henchpeople were other Humans and Rodians, but among the group was the notorious Human-clone bounty hunter, serving as an extra witness. He was Boba Fett. 

Though Han Solo kept cool as he awaited his passengers, Chewbacca in the cockpit awaited almost impatiently for the four passengers of his and Han’s to arrive. At first sight, Luke thought that the saucer-shaped _Millennium Falcon_ was a “piece of junk”, but Han further ensured that this ship was really fast and effective, and equipped with modifications that Han and Chewie had done for the ship themselves. Han, after accepting his down payment, requested that his passengers board the ship now with no further delay. They did so, and C-3PO gave Han a formal hello as he too boarded. As everyone boarded the gangplank, Solo did a quick check of the ship’s exterior. Garindan now called upon Captain Prestelk and his platoon and informed them that the four wanted people with the two droids were there in the specified docking bay. Prestelk gave Garindan a small but good payment, while Garindan headed off afterwards. Then, the sandtroopers quickly readied their weapons. Han Solo was ready to board his ship himself, but then the troopers quickly entered the docking bay, with Prestelk shouting to stop that ship and blast Solo and everyone on board. There was a quick firefight, but with no casualties, and Solo was able to enter the ship and raise the gangplank unscathed. He yelled to his Wookiee copilot to get them going now, as Han rushed to the cockpit as well. The sandtroopers continued to fire onto the exterior of the ship. Chewie activated the ship and the _Falcon_ took off and left Mos Eisley with Captain Prestelk, his platoon, and many other sandtroopers in the city, seeing in disappointment that their wanted people and droids had gotten away. The Imperial hover combat carrier also could not get to Docking Bay 94 in time. The _Millennium Falcon_ and all on board now officially became wanted by the Empire, and Captain Prestelk sent an alert call to the Imperial ships above. As the freighter left Tatooine, the two Imperial star destroyers orbiting Tatooine received the alert notification and immediately restarted the engines. Luckily for the _Falcon_ , the massive Imperial ships were on the other side of the desert planet from the freighter when they left orbit. Yet, the Imperial star destroyers, ready with their many heavy armaments, crossed under Tatooine’s South Pole and began their pursuit of the _Millennium Falcon_. The immense star destroyers were already closing in on the small freighter and started opening fire, while Luke and Han argued to each other on how they could escape this danger. However, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi did manage to escape the pursuit by entering hyperspace, fully leaving the desert planet of Tatooine. Luke Skywalker for the first time in his life spent time away from the sands as he had just embarked on his hero's journey within the Domelake Galaxy. 

Yet, back on Tatooine, the Human, Jawaese and Rodian scientists in the Bestine Museum finally determined what happened to the oceanic water on Tatooine from their discoveries and upheld a press conference to Governor Vallo Siltrunner of the Imperial government of Tatooine. Tatooine’s oceans were not gone. They were now subterranean and had been in the form of megaaquifers within the planet’s sandstone bedrock. After the megaearthquakes from the passing rogue planet occurred, the earthquakes opened colossal rifts in the planet’s crust that drained the oceans, where all the water drained into the sandstone below the surface. Much of the oceanic salt also drained with the oceans. The last of the draining water drew surface sand over the rifts, which in a sense, closed up the rifts. However, any crevices in the ground allowed some of the oceanic water to rise as misty vapor (which some condensed to frost) during the cold nights, which repeated itself over and over. Also, with the oceans underground with no disturbance, the salt sank further downward, leaving more freshwater at the higher levels of the megaaquifers. This explained the crevices of freshwater and the freshwater wells. Furthermore, another correct theory emerged in which krayt dragons swam in the sand downward to drink the water below; and the dragons were able to find the megaaquifers. The scientists also determined that krayt dragons also had salt glands behind their nostrils which excreted excess ingested salt out of their nostrils, should the dragons ingest any saltwater. Sandworms also drank the submerged water as they burrowed downward for it. Banthas, with their long and dexterous tongues, also were able to drink water from crevices as well. The scientists of Bestine also correctly theorized that the passing rogue planet gravitationally perturbed Tatooine's original orbit around the twin suns to the point where the rogue planet altered and shrunk Tatooine's orbit to where the planet was closer to the twin suns than before. This theory also came to light during the press conference. This all explained practically everything on Tatooine’s once-lush history. The next topic was how Tatooine could recover the oceans and bring them back to the surface. 

Many moisture farmers of the farmstead community gathered around the now-destroyed Lars farmstead (including the Darklighter, Goodseeker, Loneozer, Banwinder, and Canpinter families), and discussed among themselves of the newly realized Imperial brutality. They then held a funerary vigil and then prepared a burial for their fallen community members Owen and Beru Lars. No moisture farmer in the farmstead community knew where Luke Skywalker was, however, but many correctly presumed that he was away on a new journey in life. Each moisture farmer per stead then took a functional moisture vaporator at the surface level that once belonged to the Lars. No one wanted to claim the Lars moisture farmstead, however. Jedi Master Toha Gre, under heavy disguise, enjoyed some time in the Bestine Museum before she headed towards the shops in Tatooine's capital city to purchase some needed extra food and supplies. She would later head back home in the Far Hills on her well-fueled T-16 skyhopper, flying over Tatooine's North Pole to reach the Hills, where her pet corleture was waiting. Toha Gre also never left home without her lightsaber, though she too kept it well-hidden unless needed. In the Yawherders' family-owned Spaceport Hotel in Mos Eisley, Gial Ackbar checked in as a guest for a week. Ackbar would enjoy the hotel's great accommodations like all other guests, but he also came to secretly recruit more people on Tatooine to join the Rebel Alliance. His visit would later result in twenty-five newly pledged members, including Lak Sirvak. In the Mos Eisley Cantina, Dengar the bounty hunter stopped in for a drink. Many patrons of the bar gave Dengar a good amount of space as he sat on the barstool to cool off, and Wuher Stonemover the bartender was very polite to Dengar. In Jabba's Palace, the Max Rebo Band just recently hired a percussionist, a Weequay named Ak-Rev. As the Max Rebo Band quartet finished practicing their songs and tunes for Jabba the Hutt for his return from Mos Eisley, Droopy McCool could not help but hear the faint sounds of other Kitonaks, who may have been living in a Kitonak colony southward and near the Eastern Dune Sea on Tatooine. One day, Droopy McCool would head there to see if this colony existed. He sure hoped it did exist. All the B'Omarr monks avoided the Max Rebo Band, when they were performing or practicing their music in the palace for their music disturbed the monks' peace. A Jawa named A'Vakkive, who was another survivor of Dathcha's clan and in Bestine at the time of the brutal massacre, turned his head up to the stars at night from the entranceway to his newly-purchased house in Bestine, while wondering what would it be like to be off of the planet Tatooine. A'Vakkive's wife Ul'Haa joined him outside and started wondering the same with her husband. Now, on behalf of their fallen clan leader and of most of their clan whom also sadly fell, these two Jawas started striving to be the first Jawas to head to outerspace, off of the planet Tatooine. However, Tatooine would always be their home.

* * *

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